Droit et langue

Abstract

Following the development of international relations, lawyers and linguists have to face the diversity of law Systems and of languages, which is together a wealth and a drawback. This situation is an everyday 's reality in family law, business law and public law, as well in the European frame as in the world frame. Each language carries its own law concepts, whose pure equivalent are not always the apparently corresponding concepts in the other language. In a negotiation — in order to avoid any litigation resulting from a misunderstanding — or in a law suit — so that the dispute, subject matter of the trial or of the arbitration, is exactly appreciated by the judges or the arbitrators — the parties, their counsels, the judges, the arbitrators must know what is expressed, without focussing on the apparent meaning of the words, but knowing what they mean in each culture. In each situation, the exact meaning of the used tenus must be known, uppermost when they are translated. We must keep in mind that, when a language is spoken in several countries, the various national versions of this language are not always the same (the French language in France is not the same as in Belgium, Switzerland or Canada, the Germon language in Germany is not the same as in Switzerland or Austria). Moreover, the use of a third language, more particularly English, which is now the « international lingua franca » involves many risks, this language carrying the concepts of « common law » and having in addition different national versions, like « British English » and « American English ». Thanks to the « Babel of Laws and Languages » comparatists and linguists have a fine future.