Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law
Legal language seems to maintain a level of incomprehensibility that creates a barrier, beyond which 'something' is happening: a dispute is resolved, a matter of guilt is ascertained, or a life is taken. This paper tackles a trial (in the sense of any type of legal proceeding before a judg...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Tilburg Law Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://tilburglawreview.com/articles/115 |
| _version_ | 1811289822512283648 |
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| author | Terezie Smejkalová |
| author_facet | Terezie Smejkalová |
| author_sort | Terezie Smejkalová |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Legal language seems to maintain a level of incomprehensibility that creates a barrier, beyond which 'something' is happening: a dispute is resolved, a matter of guilt is ascertained, or a life is taken. This paper tackles a trial (in the sense of any type of legal proceeding before a judge) as a performance of justice; one that, not unlike a magical ritual or ritual theater, happens beyond a certain kind of barrier and is fully accessible only to those duly consecrated. It will be argued that legal language may be understood as such a barrier and the role and status of those who do not master it (i.e. understand law and its concepts) are comparable to those of an audience in a performance. Consequently, this paper will show how understanding the role of this barrier in a performance may help us explore the accessibility of law to the layperson and her subjectivity (in the psychoanalytical sense) within law. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:02:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b5b62a53d6147eab74f9931a669e61f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2211-2545 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:02:21Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tilburg Law Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b5b62a53d6147eab74f9931a669e61f2022-12-22T03:03:27ZengUbiquity PressTilburg Law Review2211-25452017-10-01221-2627610.1163/22112596-02201004109Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in LawTerezie Smejkalová0Assistant Professor, Department of Legal Theory, Faculty of Law, Masaryk UniversityLegal language seems to maintain a level of incomprehensibility that creates a barrier, beyond which 'something' is happening: a dispute is resolved, a matter of guilt is ascertained, or a life is taken. This paper tackles a trial (in the sense of any type of legal proceeding before a judge) as a performance of justice; one that, not unlike a magical ritual or ritual theater, happens beyond a certain kind of barrier and is fully accessible only to those duly consecrated. It will be argued that legal language may be understood as such a barrier and the role and status of those who do not master it (i.e. understand law and its concepts) are comparable to those of an audience in a performance. Consequently, this paper will show how understanding the role of this barrier in a performance may help us explore the accessibility of law to the layperson and her subjectivity (in the psychoanalytical sense) within law.https://tilburglawreview.com/articles/115legal language(in)comprehensibility of legal languagelegal performancelegal ceremonyrituallegal subjectdiscursive space |
| spellingShingle | Terezie Smejkalová Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law Tilburg Law Review legal language (in)comprehensibility of legal language legal performance legal ceremony ritual legal subject discursive space |
| title | Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law |
| title_full | Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law |
| title_fullStr | Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law |
| title_full_unstemmed | Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law |
| title_short | Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law |
| title_sort | legal performance translating into law and subjectivity in law |
| topic | legal language (in)comprehensibility of legal language legal performance legal ceremony ritual legal subject discursive space |
| url | https://tilburglawreview.com/articles/115 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tereziesmejkalova legalperformancetranslatingintolawandsubjectivityinlaw |