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A Lawyer-Linguist View on EU Terminology

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A Lawyer-Linguist View on EU Terminology A lawyer-linguist view on EU terminology Colin Robertson, Lawyer-linguist All comments are purely personal. Summary 1. Introduction 2. Lawyer linguist viewpoint on terminology 3. Lawyer-linguist tasks 4. Four viewpoints on terminology: law, policy, language and action 5. EU legislative acts and terminology 6. EU legal English: implications for terminology 7. EU legal English: non-native speakers 8. EU multilingual interpretation of terms 9. A semiotic view on terminology 10. Conclusion 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 2 1. Introduction Legal language and terms raise difficulties: - Legal concepts are abstract - Terms take meaning from context - Each legal system creates its own context - The aim of a legal system is to provide a single answer in a given set of circumstances, - to answer the question: “what is the law?” - Terms are shaped and adapted within the system so as to fit together as part of a complex network of concepts. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 3 Legal systems: shaped by experience new concepts, terms constantly added. Differences: historical experiences, geography, economics ... develop in own ways, introduces terms specific to self Similarities: background structures shared with other legal systems shared origins, shared concepts but adapted to system Legal ‘families’, for example in Europe: Civil Law deriving mainly from Roman Law Common Law deriving mainly from English law 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 4 Concepts and terms shared across legal families: (person, ownership, contract, heir, duty, right …) Concepts and terms that are specific to each family (Civil law: delict; Common law: tort) Frequently it is possible to find equivalent terms across legal systems, as with delict / tort: usufruct / liferent However: (a) precise legal implications differ between systems (b) frequently a concept and term in one legal system has no direct equivalent in another legal system (Scots:lawburrows: a legal action to prevent harm) 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 5 How to handle? Depends on task in hand, type of text, nature of the text. Drafting new text: reuse concepts/terms, invent new terms, give new meanings to old terms. Translating: search for meaning of SL terms, seeks equivalents, ... or if none, maybe reuse SL term, maybe invent new term... EU legislative texts: need to have terms for EU concepts in all languages. Concepts become EU when they are used in an EU legal text. There is a constant pressure with respect to terminology. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 6 EU legislative texts: single text in 24 languages. (Synoptic) Message is the ‘same’ in each version. Meaning derives from all language versions as a whole. That implies close term equivalence across languages. But languages are used for more than one legal system. We study SL terms in their specific context and select TL terms according to the TL legal context. Certain EU languages span more than one legal system, a single term may have different meanings according to the particular system. UK example: A law on companies applies to whole UK, but different legal systems in UK (English, Scots….) So English court applies English law meaning; Scots court a Scots law meaning: terms in their context… 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 7 The same principle applies to terms in other languages. For example: ‘married’ can mean different things in different countries (formal ceremony, informal reputation as married, gay marriages…) Precise implications of each term: specific to system, link in with other concepts and terms in system. Legal concepts are system bound. This applies to EU legal terminology. However, the EU context is different, and more complex, than the national legal context. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 8 Being ‘system bound’ is a defining feature of legal terms. A system has an inside, an outside and a boundary in between. There are legal boundaries and linguistic boundaries. There are also subsystems within a legal system. (branches of law: civil law, criminal law, commercial law…: e.g. the concept of ‘person’ has different implications inn each branch) - Inside a system (subsystem) , the rules (and terms) are aligned, and coordinated as part of a web or network and form a cultural whole. - Legal systems, rules and terms change with time. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 9 Legal terms are subject to linguistic factors: Legal systems use one or more languages. Each language chops up reality in different ways Each language has its own grammar and syntax Each language is the product of a speech community(ies) with a history, experiences and its own culture. Legal language and terms reflect the culture. EU legal language is drawn from diverse sources EU texts are drafted in one (or more) language(s), translated into others, aligned legal-linguistically, transposed into national law and concepts, and acted on by citizens. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 10 A broad structured approach to Terminology? Or each term is alone and studied ad hoc for equivalents? Thesis here is that terms need to be studied individually, but that one can seek to categorise them in various ways and this can help in the process of analysis and problem solving. This approach is called here ‘lawyer-linguist viewpoint’ It starts with the role and tasks of lawyer linguists. It suggests viewpoints for looking at texts and terms. These viewpoints can assist in identifying boundaries for terms: specific to a system, shared with other fields, serving particular purposes or peripheral … 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 11 Purpose today: explore some broad issues that relate to terminology. Avenues for tackling legal terms, focus on their function. Reference language: English, focus from that point of view. Background: need to understand the culture behind terms. Lawyer-linguists have legal training and insights. Hope today: some insights, derived from many years pragmatic experience. 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 12 2. Lawyer linguist viewpoint on terminology The starting point here: lawyer-linguist (juriste-linguiste)(JL) - Trained lawyer: knowledge of legal systems, legal concepts, methods, philosophy and terminology: part of Legal Service. - Trained in analysing problems from a legal point of view - Linguist: knowledge of several languages and viewpoint of translation, revision - Trained in drafting legal texts, terminology, translation - May have training in linguistics (but many do not) - Specialist expert with an ‘insider’s’ view on both law and legal language - Pragmatic, emphasis on problem solving 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 13 3. Lawyer-linguist tasks EU JLs translate (Court of Justice) and revise legal texts (Commission, Council, European Parliament, European Central Bank). They oversee the final stages of preparation of EU legislative texts in all languages . They review terminology and negotiate with experts JLs in the Commission assist the DGs in drafting of EU legislative texts and legislative quality JLs in Council revise texts and assist Legal Service colleagues and delegations with legislative quality JLs in EP revise texts and assist in legislative quality and aligning languages 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 14 Everyone has their own methods of work. There are different ways to revise a legal text: - horizontal read from start to end - vertical reading from general headings to small details - Selecting different viewpoints to study the text in sequence … This last method is selected here for attention. Take four viewpoints: Law, policy, action and language If we study a legal text from each angle, we notice different things. But these heads can also be applied to terminology and this is something to explore today. Is there a systematic method towards studying legal terms? 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 15 4. Four viewpoints on terminology: law, policy, language and action All terms in a legal text become ‘legal’ because the text is part of the legal system. The meaning of terms is decided ultimately by judges in court cases, after hearing opposing arguments of the parties. We search cases for the precise meanings of terms in relation to facts. (apply / not apply?) So in a legal text, a viewpoint of law prevails overall. However, within that we can ‘tag’ or ‘allocate’ each term as relating to law, policy, language, action. There is overlap, but we become able to see the overlap and that helps us focus on the function of a term 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 16 Looking at texts and terms from different viewpoints leads one to ask different questions, and look for different information. That leads to different answers and insights, and clarifies function. It assists in penetrating to deeper levels of meaning in source and target language versions. It is an analytical exercise. We see more clearly the function of the term, phrase, sentence... Link to the wider context. Useful for review, checking.... 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 17 Questions: Is the term purely legal? Part of the infrastructure of the legal system? Is the term connected with policy, the field of activity, the domain (agriculture, environment...) and shared with non-legal texts? What action is intended through the term? (legal effects) Is the term connected more to the language (grammar, syntax)? 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 18 (a) Law viewpoint: (i) The formal structure and layout of the text (ii) Terminology relating to legal ‘infrastructure’: - names of legal acts (regulation, directive , decision ...) - names of procedures (ordinary legislative, judicial ...) - parts of legal acts (title, citations, articles, annexes...) - status of the act (valid, annulled, void, suspended…) - actions performed (amend old acts, codify, consolidate, repeaL, adopt, declare, decide...) - names of bodies and authorities (EUROPOL ...) 29/11/2013 EU legal language and terminology 19 Note: The use of particular legal terms triggers precise legal consequences.
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