Description
Book SynopsisLaw and Language in the Middle Ages investigates the encounter between law and legal practice from the linguistic perspective. The essays explore how legal language expresses and advances power relations, along with the ways in which the language of law legitimates power. The wide geographical and chronological scope showcases how power, legitimacy and language interact, moving the discussion beyond traditional issues of identity or the formation of nation-states and their institutions. What emerges are different strategies reflective of the diverse and pluralistic political, legal, and cultural worlds of the Middle Ages. Contributors are Michael H. Gelting, Dirk Heirbaut, Carole Hough, Anette Kremer, Ada Maria Kuskowski, Anders Leegaard Knudsen, André Marques, Matthew McHaffie, Bruce O’Brien, Paul Russell, Werner Schäfke, and Vincenz Schwab.
Table of ContentsContents Notes on Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction Jenny Benham, Matthew McHaffie, and Helle Vogt part 1 Translation and Interpretation of Law 1 Why Laws Were Translated in Medieval England: Access, Authority, and Authenticity Bruce O’Brien 2 Translating Justinian: Transmitting and Transforming Roman Law in the Middle Ages Ada Maria Kuskowski 3 Leges Iutorum: The Medieval Latin Translation of the Law of Jutland Michael H. Gelting 4 The Languages and Registers of Law in Medieval Ireland and Wales Paul Russell part 2 The Languages of Legal Practice and Documentary Culture 5 Latin and the Vernacular in Medieval Legal Documents: The Case of Denmark Anders Leegaard Knudsen 6 Between the Language of Law and the Language of Justice: The Use of Formulas in Portuguese Dispute Texts (Tenth and Eleventh Centuries) André Evangelista Marques 7 The Dangers of Using Latin Texts for the Study of Customary Law: The Example of Flemish Feudal Law during the High Middle Ages Dirk Heirbaut 8 Sources of Legal Language: The Development of Warranty Clauses in Western France, ca.1030–ca.1240 Matthew McHaffie part 3 Methodology, Interaction, and Language 9 Law and Language in the Leges Barbarorum: A Database Project on the Vernacular Vocabulary in Medieval Manuscripts Anette Kremer and Vincenz Schwab 10 ‘And since We are No Lawyers, We Will Void the Lawsuit with Battle Axes’! Voiding a Lawsuit in Old Icelandic Procedural Law Werner Schäfke 11 Biblical Analogues for Early Anglo-Saxon Law Carole Hough Index
