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

Morrison, Mary Jane, Technical Language (and the Law) (1980). Colonial Lawyer, Vol. 10, p. 18 (1980), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2232272

Mary Jane Morrison (Contact Author)

Hamline University - School of Law ( email )

1536 Hewitt Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55104-1237
United States

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