Technical Language (and the Law)
Colonial Lawyer, Vol. 10, p. 18 (1980)
6 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2013
Date Written: 1980
Abstract
There are two ways in which we can speak technically. We can make a technical use of language, or we can use a technical language. The two description are not interchangeable. A technical use of language, for example, is the issue central to Frigaliment Co., for 'chicken' has all the meanings plaintiffs and defendants there ascribe to it. Those meanings are also ordinary language meanings of the term, and the problem is whether, among those many ordinary language meanings, the trade usage is sufficiently standard to distinguish broilers and fryers from stewers. If it is, then 'chicken' becomes a form for which there is a technical use among persons in the trade. An argument between two physicists over unified field theory, on the other hand, is made with use of the technical language of physics as well as a technical use of language, and the the technical terms the physicists employ are from the general and special theories of relativity, the theory of gravitational fields, and so on.
The author breaks this article down to cover 1) technical language, 2) speech, and 3) promise.
Keywords: technical language, language, special language, ordinary language
JEL Classification: K00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation