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E-book
Author Glanert, Simone

Title Comparative Law - Engaging Translation
Published Routledge, 2014

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Description 1 online resource
Contents pt. I. Addressing translatability -- pt. II. The specificity of comparative law -- pt. III. Translation beyond translation
Summary "In an era marked by processes of economic and political integration that are arguably unprecedented in their range and impact, the translation of law has assumed a new significance. The following situations are typical. As the expression of a strong postcolonial commitment, various African states have decided to draft their legislation in more than one official language with a view to conferring equal authority upon colonial and traditional languages. Elsewhere, an influential group of European lawyers is seeking to develop a civil code for the European Union that potentially stands to be translated into 23 languages. Meanwhile, former political and military leaders are being prosecuted for genocide before the International Criminal Court, a body consisting of judges from many different legal backgrounds and operating according to a complex multilingual procedure. And, controversially, the US Supreme Court has relied upon foreign law in order to assess the constitutionality of a Texas statute criminalizing certain forms of sexual behaviour. Each of these instances raises the matter of law in translation, broadly understood. Can legal rules carry identical normative implications in more than one language? Can law achieve uniformity despite needing to be rendered in many languages? How do interpreting and translation affect adjudication in a multilingual courtroom? To what extent can a given legal text make sense in a different legal culture? These questions, among others, are addressed here within a comparative legal context in which, it is demonstrated, translation issues are a central feature of the contemporary legal landscape"-- Provided by publisher
"In an era marked by processes of economic, political and legal integration that are arguably unprecedented in their range and impact, the translation of law has assumed a significance which it would be hard to overstate. The following situations are typical. A French law school is teaching French law in the English language to foreign exchange students. Some US legal scholars are exploring the possibility of developing a generic or transnational constitutional law. German judges are referring to foreign law in a criminal case involving an honour killing committed in Germany with a view to ascertaining the relevance of religious prescriptions. European lawyers are actively working on the creation of a common private law to be translated into the 23 official languages of the European Union. Since 2004, the World Bank has been issuing reports ranking the attractiveness of different legal cultures for doing business. All these examples raise in one way or the other the matter of translation from a comparative legal perspective. Yet, in today's globalised world where the need to communicate beyond borders arises constantly in different guises, many comparatists continue not to address the issue of translation. This edited collection of essays brings together leading scholars from various cultural and disciplinary backgrounds who draw on fields such as translation studies, linguistics, literary theory, history, philosophy or sociology with a view to promoting a heightened understanding of the complex translational implications pertaining to comparative law, understood both in its literal and metaphorical senses"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Law -- Language.
Comparative law.
Semantics (Law)
Comparative law
Law -- Language
Semantics (Law)
Form Electronic book
ISBN 1306904846
9781306904841
9780203380895
0203380894
9781135047474
1135047472
9781135047467
1135047464