Abstract
This paper discusses the unintelligible nature of legal terminology from lay perspectives in the era of the lay judge system. First, I will introduce Japan’s first plain language project which was set up by the lay-judge preparatory headquarters of Japan Federation of Bar Associations in preparation in 2005 for the lay judge system introduced in 2009. The project paraphrased sixty-one legal terms, which were important for lay judges but not known to lay people. I will show some rewording work, which was conducted by joint effort between legal and non-legal experts of the project. After the discussion of the rewording work I will move to a mock lay judge trial which was held by Maebashi District Courts, together with Maebashi District Public Prosecutors’ Offices and Gunma Bar Association in 2006 to prepare for the lay judge system. I will focus on one unintelligible legal terminology, ‘murder through willful negligence’ (mihitus no koi) and discuss how the intent to murder was determined in a deliberation of a mock trial, using a discourse connective, ‘the only thing is that…’ (tada). The introduction of the lay judge system has therefore given a prodigious opportunity to work on plain legal language in Japan.
Highlights
Susan Blackwell, PhD, University of Birmingham, UK Sheng-Jie Chen, PhD, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
After the discussion of the rewording work I will move to a mock lay judge trial which was held by Maebashi District Courts, together with Maebashi District Public Prosecutors’ Offices and Gunma Bar Association in 2006 to prepare for the lay judge system
The introduction of the lay judge system has given a prodigious opportunity to work on plain legal language in Japan
Summary
KOMITET REDAKCYJNY/EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-chief: Aleksandra Matulewska Co-editor: Joanna Nowak-Michalska. Sekretarze/Assistants: Swietlana Ga , Karolina Gortych-Michalak, Joanna Grzybek External Members of the Editorial Board. Łucja Biel, PhD, University of Gda sk, Poland Christos Bintoudis, PhD, Greece/Poland. Susan Blackwell, PhD, University of Birmingham, UK Sheng-Jie Chen, PhD, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Ewa Ko ciałkowska-Oko ska, PhD, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toru , Poland Professor Larisa Krjukova, Tomsk State University, Russia Artur Kubacki, PhD, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. Professor Lavinia N drag, Ovidius University, Constan a, Romania Professor Natalja Netšunajeva, Public Service Academy, Estonia Kiriakos Papoulidis, PhD, Greece/Poland. Adres Redakcji/Editorial Office Instytut J zykoznawstwa Pracownia Legilingwistyki. The issue has been published with financial grant from the Institute of Linguistics, Poland. Copyright by Institute of Linguistics Printed in Poland ISSN 2080-5926 Nakład 100 Egz. Redakcja i skład: Pracownia Legilingwistyki Druk: Zakład Graficzny Uniwersytetu im.
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