Vico’s “Scienza Nuova”: Sematology and Thirdness in the Law

Is it the task of legal semiotics or the legal philosophers to define legal semiotics? For the philosopher of law, the question recalls the distinction between philosophers’ philosophy of law and legal scholars’ philosophy of law. The thesis that the paper argues is that a semiotic legal perspective can also be sought from the analysis of anthropological knowledge on the origin of the social bond and society, implying a social and institutional theory of the mind. In the first paragraph, the search for a different kind of rationality emerges from a semiotician, Jürgen Trabant, who analyses semiotically the thought of a rhetorician and philosopher of law, Giambattista Vico. In the second paragraph, the anthropological notion of social bond emerges from the debate on the relationship between the idea of the gift and that of exchange. In the third paragraph, the analysis of the legal notion of thirdness recognizes the central role of myth and fiction in the configuration of the civil world and sign, returning to Vico’s critical view of the philosophy of language as an institution of society.

Towards a semiotic theory of style in law: a Peircean approach

This paper discusses the promises and limits of a Peircean semiotic approach to the concept of style in law. It does so in two steps: first (1) by identifying the place of style within the structure of law as a system of signs, then (2) by conceptualising the link between law and style in the thought of C.S. Peirce and highlighting some of the insights from a Peircean take on legal semiotics that may contribute to our understanding of the role of style in making meaning in law. It is argued that, for a Peircean analysis of law, three levels can be distinguished, from the ‘surface structure’ down to the ‘deep structure’. It is at the middle level (that of the ‘basic structure’) that a semiotic approach can yield coherent insights in terms of style, by examining the symbols and metaphors that make for the expressibility of ‘habits’, namely experience-based patterns of action and interpretation.

El tiempo del discurso jurídico y el relato prescriptivo. ”Nomos” históricos y “Nomos” procesales

Este ensayo informa del estado de los debates en el campo de la Semiótica Jurídica sobre dos temas: el carácter narrativo de la práctica característica del discurso jurídico, dirigido a la adjudicación del juez, la sentencia; y la función argumentativa que aparece en el horizonte de ese carácter narrativo. Reconocemos detrás de estos temas un problema común sobre el que la semiótica debe detenerse: las operaciones estratégicas que las adjudicaciones enmascaran reenvían a regímenes narrativos donde se sancionan normas sobre el deber ser de las historias relatadas y sobre el campo discursivo donde los relatos emergen.This paper exposes current debates in the field of Legal Semiotics about two topics: the narrative nature of the practice of social discourse, oriented to adjudication, and the argumentative function that appears on the horizon of this narrative nature. We recognize one common problem behind these topics, and believe that Semiotics must pay attention: the strategic operations that the adjudications conceal remit to narrative regimes where rules are prescribed on normative ideal of story told and the discursive field where storytellings emerge.

Applying legal narratives. Some comments on Bernard Jackson’s sociolinguistic approach in legal semiotics

In the article some applications of the concept of legal nar­rative are undertaken in the perspective of Bernard Jackson’s legal semiotics. The analysis are developed in the perspective of Polish social and economical changes of recent decades. The leitmotif is constituted by remarks on sociolinguistic aspects of teaching legal narratives in changing reality. In this context a notion of “legal grapholect” is introduced to discuss possible influence of “deep layer” of legal language on evolving Polish law­yers’ language and vernacular. Additionally, issues of semiotic group of lawyers and legal register are discussed on the basis of the sociolinguistic paradigm. Reasoning is enriched by remarks of possible merger of Jackson’s legal semiotics and Ch. Perelman’s theory of legal argumentation.

Expiration dates: Performative illusions of law and regulation

Expiration dates on perishable food items provide some indication as to when the item was produced and how long it’s been sitting on the shelf. However, in the United States, expiration dates are voluntary and subjectively characterize the quality of food as such dates, implemented by the food’s manufacturer, are not legally mandated. Culturally speaking then, why do we pay so much attention to them? This paper will examine the relationship between expiration dates on food and the visual-based perceptions about law that inform these socio-legal semiotics of regulation while exploring the complexity of law concerning the symbolism, construction, and reception of such labels as either legal truth or legal fiction.