This Research Handbook offers a comprehensive study of jurilinguistics that not only presents the latest international research findings among academics and practitioners, but also provides a new approach to the phenomena and nature of communicative flexibility, legal genres, vulnerability of interlingual legal communication, and the cultural landscape of legal translation. Chapters explore the theory of jurilinguistics investigating the features of a broad range of national discourses. Offering a unique perspective on the complex and dynamic relationship between language and the law, the impressive selection of contributors discuss the efficiency, flexibility and vulnerabilities of communication in legal settings. Anne Wagner and Aleksandra Matulewska approach the topic from a multidimensional standpoint, dealing with a myriad of topics, notably the general theory of jurilinguistics, the genres and characteristics of legal language, and the improvement of the quality of legal language. This discerning Research Handbook will appeal to a variety of academics and researchers in law, translation, jurisprudence, applied linguistics, and rhetoric, looking to broaden their understanding of jurilinguistics as an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural operation. It will also serve as both a theoretical and practical resource for lawyers, legislators, lawyer-linguists, and legal translation specialists alike.

This book describes the historical development of the Polish and English lingua legis. The intention is to point out the major differences between the legal realities, which significantly affect the process of translation. Secondly, the following characteristic features of lingua legis, concerning the level of words and syntagmas, are touched upon: vocabulary used in lingua legis including technical and semi-technical terms, conservatism of legal texts (Latin and Latinisms; synonymous strings, archaic adverbs etc.), borrowings, terms with non-precise meanings (the problem of indeterminacy), neologisms, euphemisms, vulgarisms, performative verbs, metaphors and religious elements, prepositional phrases, time expressions, compound nouns and the problems connected with nominalization, false cognates which cause major misunderstandings, and finally methods of providing translation equivalents. The problem of ambivalence is analysed as well. The problems connected with the Polish-English and English-Polish translation of the texts belonging to the following legal genres are examined: university diplomas and certificates, statutes, judgments, law reports, powers of attorney, petitions, contracts and deeds, testaments, birth, death and marriage certificates, and popular fiction.

With the purpose of making the process of legal translation accessible to investigation, the author resorts to the parametrization of translational reality as an inalienable component of her translational theory being proposed here for consideration. The aim is to propose a more precise theory of legilinguistic translation which compels the author to clearly distinguish primitive terms and postulates. These latter specify the image (model) of the reality in question in terms of relevant dimensions used to characterize a set of translational objects and relations. The dimensions secure a systematic examination of the translation reality and process. In order to illustrate the practical application of the parametrization in legal translation, the discussion concerning this translation approach is limited to certain selected types of legal communicative communities which is amply exemplified. The research is based on data and information gathered during an in-depth case study of translations and parallel text corpora mainly in the field of civil law including insolvency and bankruptcy law.