Publication details
The Words of the Stage
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | It may be claimed that the language used in the courtroom represents a barrier that divides the lay parties from the legally-trained judges that is not dissimilar from the divide between the space designated for the audience and the stage. This divide represents the crossing where the everyday dispute turns into the trial, producing a just decision. Apart from (and based on) the visible scene of the court, there are the words that create the discursive space of law where the words matter and in the end mean the difference between the guilt and innocence. What is the role of this sometimes incomprehensible or ritualistic language and its formulae? Is it the audience/stage divide, or can it be the form of recognition by the Other? This paper seeks to answer these questions and to discuss whether it can it be claimed that the words of the legal discourse create (among others) the all-seeing but invisible eye of justice? |
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