Statutory Texts as Instances of Language(s): Consequences and Limitations on Interpretation
![handle is hein.journals/bjil29 and id is 1143 raw text is: STATUTORY TEXTS AS INSTANCES OF
LANGUAGE(S): CONSEQUENCES AND
LIMITATIONS ON INTERPRETATION
Jan Engberg*
I. INTRODUCTION
I a linguist and a translator working especially on texts
N nd communication in legal settings, my main interest in
statutory interpretation in multilingual settings concerns the
ontological status of statutory texts. My basic assumption,
based on results from modern research in cognitively oriented
text linguistics, is that legal texts are perfectly normal texts
subject to the characteristics of human communication (contex-
tuality, cotextuality of meaning, as well as pragmatic fuzzyness)
and are not logic constructs subject to logical operations.' Con-
sequently, interpretation of such texts does not differ in sub-
stance from the interpretation process carried out in other
kinds of textual communication. In this paper I will concen-
trate on the consequences of this basic assumption upon the
feasibility and methodology of statutory interpretation within
the European Union.! I will thus mainly look at statutory in-
terpretation in a specialized (viz. multilingual) context. How-
ever, I shall also try to show some of the general consequences
to be drawn for all statutory interpretation.
* Jan Engberg is an Associate Professor at the Aarhus School of Busi-
ness, Denmark.
1. Marcelo Dascal & Jerzy Wr6blewski, The Rational Law-Maker and the
Pragmatics of Legal Interpretation, 15 J. PRAGMATICS 421, 431 (1991).
2. The European Union is a prime example for analysis due to its trans-
lated texts and dogmatic belief that every text be seen and interpreted as an
authentic original. For example, the Treaty on European Union lays down in
Article 53 that all its language versions are equally authentic. TREATY OF
AMSTERDAM AMENDING THE TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION, THE TREATIES
ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CERTAIN RELATED ACTS, Oct. 2, 1997,
O.J. (C340) 1 (1997) [hereinafter TREATY OF AMSTERDAM]; and Regulation No 1
from 1958 states in article four that Regulations and other documents of
general application shall be drafted in the four official languages. EEC
Council: Regulation No. 1 Determining the Languages to be Used by the
European Economic Community, art. 4, 1958 J.O. (B017) 385. The word used
here is drafted, not translated, as all versions are to be seen as authentic.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/bjil29&div=33&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Statutory Texts as Instances of Language(s): Consequences and Limitations on Interpretation
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