Law, Language and the Courtroom: Legal Linguistics and the Discourse of Judges

This book explores the language of judges. It is concerned with understanding how language works in judicial contexts. Using a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, it looks in detail at the ways in which judicial discourse is argued, constructed, interpreted and perceived. Focussing on four central themes - constructing judicial discourse and judicial identities, judicial argumentation and evaluative language, judicial interpretation and clarity in judicial discourse, the book’s ultimate goal is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth overview of current critical issues of the role of language in judicial settings. Written by contributors from legal linguists, lawyers, legal scholars, legal practitioners, legal translators, and anthropologists, the work explores patterns of linguistic organization and use in judicial institutions and analyzes language as an instrument for understanding both the judicial decision-making process and its outcome.

The book will be an invaluable resource for scholars in legal linguistics and those specializing in judicial argumentation and reasoning and forensic linguists interested in the use of language in judicial settings.