Shallow Equality and Symbolic Jurisprudence in Multilingual Legal Orders: (Oxford Studies in Language and Law)

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. What challenges face jurisdictions that attempt to conduct law in two or more languages? How does choosing a legal language affect the way in which justice is delivered? Answers to these questions are vital for the 75 officially bilingual and multilingual states of the world, as well as for other states contemplating a move towards multilingualism. Arguably such questions have implications for all countries in a world characterized by the pressures of globalization, economic integration, population mobility, decolonization, and linguistic re-colonization. For lawyers, addressing such challenges is made essential by the increased frequency and scale of transnational legal dealings and proceedings, as well as by the lengthening reach of international law. But it is not only policy makers, legislators, and other legal practitioners who must think about such questions. The relationship between societal multilingualism and law also raises questions for the burgeoning field of language and law, which posits--among other tenets--the centrality of language in legal processes. In this book, Janny H.C. Leung examines key aspects of legal multilingualism. Drawing extensively on case studies, she describes the implications of the legal, practical, and ideological dilemmas encountered in a given country when it becomes bilingual or multilingual, discussing such issues as: how legal certainty and the linguistic ideology of authenticity may be challenged in a multilingual jurisdiction; how courts balance the language preferences of different courtroom participants; and what historical, socio-political and economic factors may influence the decision to cement a given language as a jurisdiction's official language. Throughout, Leung elaborates a theory of "symbolic jurisprudence" to explore common dilemmas found across countries, despite their varied political and cultural settings, and argues that linguistic equality as proclaimed and practiced today is a shallow kind of equality. Although officially multilingual jurisdictions appear to be more inclusive than their monolingual counterparts, they run the risk of disguising substantive inequalities and displacing real efforts for more progressive social change. This is the first book to offer overarching discussion of how such issues relate to each other, and the first systematic study of legal multilingualism as a global phenomenon.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Language and Law in the Whirlpool of Politics Chapter One. Tracing Linguistic Management through Time: Law as a Lens Chapter Two. Mapping a Global Phenomenon: The Spectacle of Official Multilingualism Chapter Three. How Official Multilingualism Works: A Symbolic Jurisprudence Chapter Four. Institutionalizing Multilingualism: Watchdogs on a Leash and the Bureaucratic Trap Chapter Five. Creating Multilingual Legal Texts: Domination and Dependence Chapter Six. Interpreting Multilingual Legislation: The Limits of Language and the Certainty of Uncertainty Chapter Seven. Conferring Official Language Rights in Legal Communication: Access to Justice and Conflict of Laws Chapter Eight. Concluding Remarks on Linguistic Equality, Strategic Pluralism and Linguistic Justice

About the Author :
Janny H.C. Leung is Associate Professor of English and Program Director of Law and Literary Studies (BA&LLB) at The University of Hong Kong. She obtained her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in English and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge, an LLB from the University of London, and an LLM from Yale Law School. In 2013-2014, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Yenching Institute, Harvard University. In 2017, she was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Association of Forensic Linguists.

Review :
"Janny H.C. Leung offers both an incredibly informative account of the varieties of contemporary multilingualism and a powerful political and socioeconomic critique of the ways in which states mandate and implement language policies. Combining impressive knowledge of research on law and language with subtle analysis, Leung carefully explores the parameters around recognizing language communities and lucidly articulates the complexities involved in promoting equality under the law." --Marianne Constable, Professor of Rhetoric, University of California at Berkeley "Janny H.C. Leung is one of the finest intellects in the field of language and law. In this book, she investigates the phenomenon of 'official' languages. Her considerable research and analytical skills have given us a fascinating historical and contemporary survey, with compelling conclusions."--Peter Gray, former Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, and Adjunct Professor of Law, Monash University "Janny H.C. Leung simultaneously provides a history, a reference-guide to contemporary practice, and an original analysis of the form and function of multi-lingual legal orders. The argument combines scholarly erudition, theoretical sophistication, and practical good sense. Its central ideas--symbolic jurisprudence, shallow equality, and strategic pluralism--powerfully illuminate both the promise and the limits of multi-lingualism.This is an unusually excellent and important book."--Daniel Markovits, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, Yale Law School "Shallow Equality and Symbolic Jurisprudence in Multilingual Legal Orders is an innovative and wellwritten account of the proliferation of official multilingualism. It is impressive in the breadth of its research, capturing a broad range of primary data, and incorporating theory across multiple disciplines, ranging from sociolinguistics, through statutory interpretation to political science. Leung's ability to transform this rich interdisciplinary work into accessible and engaging writing means that the book is suitable for and relevant to diverse academic audiences." -- Laura Smith-Khan, University of Technology Sydney, Alternative Law Journal