Legal Performance: Translating into Law and Subjectivity in Law
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: 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.
Source: Tilburg foreign law review
Author: Mgr. Bc. Terezie Smejkalová
Institution: Masaryk University
Language: English
Topic: Law in Society and Culture
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2762961789