Philosophical Foundations of Language in the Law

This collection brings together the best contemporary philosophical work in the area of intersection between the philosophy of the language and the law. Some of the contributors are philosophers of language who are interested in applying for advances in the philosophy of language to legal issues, and some of the participants are philosophers of law who are interested in applying insights and theories from a philosophy of language to their work on the nature of law and legal interpretation. By making this body of recent work available in a single volume, readers will gain both a general overview of the various interactions between the language of the law and so detailed analyses of particular areas in which this interaction is manifest.

The contributions to this volume are grouped under three main general areas:
– The first area concerns a critical assessment, in light of recent advances in the philosophy of language, of the foundational role of language in understanding the nature of law itself.
– The second main area concerns several ways in which an understanding of language can resolve some of the issues prevalent in legal interpretation, such as the various ways in which semantic content can differ from law’s assertive content; the contribution of presuppositions and pragmatic implicatures in understanding what the law conveys; the role of vagueness in legal language.
– The third general topic concerns the role of language in the context of particular legal doctrines and legal solutions to practical problems, such as the legal definitions of inchoate crimes, the legal definition of torture, or the contractual doctrines concerning default rules.