Abstract
Due to this international character of English, texts in this language –as proffered by several major institutions in the area of public and private law− are deployed as necessary tools of communication in the course of the establishment of transnational commercial and juridical relationships. However, English as the language of the law has been branded as a complex, opaque, kind of discourse. The aim of the present paper is to address the question of the undeniable complexity of legal texts in English as instruments to wield power, their unveiled communicative aim being to separate the ruler from the citizen and the legal message from its user. To demonstrate the validity of such thesis, genre analysis has been applied to three paradigmatic texts, consequential to develop international deals in the transnational contexts: the insurance policies of the London Institute of Underwriters at Lloyd’s, the Rules issued by the London Court of international Arbitration and the Geneva Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR). The goal of our study will be carried out through different levels to discern whether there exists any possible equation between power and textual complexity: the formal and discursive level, which will scrutinize lexicon, syntax and textual elements (macrostructure of texts and metadiscourse markers) and the pragmatic level, which will study the texts as peculiar generic types of legal agreements where power and commitment between the parties as a set of directives, i.e. obligations exerted by a powerful party over another, the recipient of the text.
Highlights
The present work undertakes the study of two major international legal texts: the Geneva Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, ( CMR) and the Arbitration Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce ( ICC), which constitute examples of the role of English as the international medium of professional communication and of the globalization of legal transactions
Our purpose overall will be to determine whether these texts are formally and discursively opaque because they obey to the necessary technical character of English legal texts at large, or because they constitute clear examples of a “dominant discourse” (Bourdieu, 1991) which disguises the wielding of power and power relations (Evangelisti Allori, 2008)
Supporters of legal language complexity purport that such so-called legalese is more precise and specific than plain language (Siegel and Etzkorn, 2013), and that the texts of the law cannot be simplified without sacrificing their legal force and certainty: legal language is conservative by definition and makes use of established formulae which have been tested before courts for centuries
Summary
The present work undertakes the study of two major international legal texts: the Geneva Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, ( CMR) and the Arbitration Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce ( ICC), which constitute examples of the role of English as the international medium of professional communication and of the globalization of legal transactions. Our purpose overall will be to determine whether these texts are formally and discursively opaque because they obey to the necessary technical character of English legal texts at large, or because they constitute clear examples of a “dominant discourse” (Bourdieu, 1991) which disguises the wielding of power and power relations (Evangelisti Allori, 2008) Due to their international transcendence, English legal texts, as proposed by several major institutions in the area of public and private law, are deployed as necessary tools of communication in the establishment of transnational commercial and juridical relationships. Supporters of legal language complexity purport that such so-called legalese is more precise and specific than plain language (Siegel and Etzkorn, 2013), and that the texts of the law cannot be simplified without sacrificing their legal force and certainty: legal language is conservative by definition and makes use of established formulae which have been tested before courts for centuries Since these are used by law professionals with confidence, they are considered ‘safe’; it has even been argued that choosing to adopt new, more. The great source of the law’s power is the language through which it enforces, reflects, constitutes, and legitimizes dominant social and power relations without a need for or the appearance of control from outside (Kairys, 1999)
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