The Oxford handbook of language and law / edited by Peter M. Tiersma and Lawrence M. Solan.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [573]-628) and index.

Introduction / Lawrence M. Solan and Peter M. Tiersma -- Pt. I. Legal language -- A history of the languages of law / Peter M. Tiersma -- Legal vocabulary / Heikki E. S. Mattla -- The grammar and structure of legal texts / Risto Hiltunen -- Text and genre / Maurizio Gotti -- The plain language movement / Mark Adler -- Pt. II. The interpretation of legal texts -- Linguistic issues in statutory interpretation / Lawrence M. Solan -- Contract formation as a speech act / Sanford Schange -- Constitutional interpretation / Robert W. Bennett -- Ambiguity and vagueness in legal interpretation / Ralf Poscher -- Legal interpretation and the philosophy of language / Brian H. Bix -- Pt. III. Multilingualism and translation -- Bilingual interpretation rules as a component of language rights in Canada / Michel Bastarache -- Word meaning and the problem of a globalized legal order / Jan Engberg -- Challenges to the legal translator / Susan Sarcevic -- Language and law in the European Union : the multilingual jurisprudence of the ECJ / Karen McAuliffe -- FIfty years of multilingual interpretation in the European Union / Cornelis J. W. Baaij.

Pt. IV. Language rights -- Linguistic human rights / Tove Skutnabb-Kangas -- Language policy in the United States / Peter M. Tiersma -- Legal rights of linguistic minorities in the European Union / Durk Gorter and Jasone Cenoz -- Investigating the language situation in Africa / Tunde Olusola Opeibi -- Pt. V. Language and criminal law -- The meaning of silence in the right to remain silent / Janet Ainsworth -- Potential impact of juvenile suspects' linguistic abilities on Miranda understanding and appreciation / Naomi E. S. Goldstein ... [et al.] -- The caution in England and Wales / Frances Rock -- The language of consent in police encounters / Janice Nadler and J. D. Trout -- The language of crime / Peter M. Tiersma and Lawrence M. Solan -- Interrogation throught pragmatic implication : sticking to the letter of the law while violating its intent / Deborah Davis and Richard A. Leo -- Pt. VI. Courtroom discourse -- Discourse in the US courtroom / Gail Stygall -- Courtroom discourse in Japan's new judicial order / Mami Hiraike Okawara -- Courtroom discourse in China / Meizhen Liao -- The language of criminal trials in an inquisitorial system : the case of the Netherlands / Martha L. Komter and Marijke Malsch -- Linguistic issues in courtroom interpretation / Susan Berk-Seligson -- Instructing the jury / Nancy S. Marder.

Pt. VII. Intellectual property -- Using linguistics in trademark cases / Roger W. Shuy -- Language and copyright / Ronald R. Butters -- The psycholinguistic basis of distinctiveness in tradmark law / Syugo Hotta and Masahiro Fujita -- Pt. VIII. Identification of authorship and deception -- Author identification in the forensic setting / Carole E. Chaski -- Corpus linguistics in authorship identification / Krzysztof Kredens and Malcolm Coulthard -- Detecting plagiarism / David Woolls -- Pt. IX. Speaker indentification -- Language analysis for determination of origin : objective evidence for refugee status determination / Peter L. Patrick -- Factors affecting lay persons' identification of speakers / A. Daniel Yarmey -- Forensic speaker comparison : a linguistic-acoustic perspective / Paul Foulkes and Peter French.

Outlines the range of legal areas in which linguistics plays an increasing role and describes the tools and approaches used by linguistics and lawyers. Addresses the areas such as the history and structure of legal languages, its meaning and interpretations, mutilingualism and language rights, courtroom discourse, forensic identification, intellectual property and linguistics and legal translation and interpretation through a combination of overview chapters, case studies and theoretical descriptions. Includes chapters written by experts from every continent who are familiar with linguistic issues that arise in diverse legal systems,including both civil and common law jurisdictions, mixed systems like that of China, and the emerging law of the European Union.