Just Words, Second Edition: Law, Language, and Power (Chicago Series in Law and Society) - Softcover

Conley, John M.; O'Barr, William M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226114880 ISBN 13: 9780226114880

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2005

Synopsis

Is it "just words" when a lawyer cross-examines a rape victim in the hopes of getting her to admit an interest in her attacker? Is it "just words" when the Supreme Court hands down a decision or when business people draw up a contract? In tackling the question of how an abstract entity exerts concrete power, Just Words focuses on what has become the central issue in law and language research: what language reveals about the nature of legal power.

Conley and O'Barr show how the microdynamics of the legal process and the largest questions of justice can be fruitfully explored through the field of linguistics. Each chapter covers a language-based approach to a different area of the law, from the cross-examinations of victims and witnesses to the inequities of divorce mediation. Combining analysis of common legal events with a broad range of scholarship on language and law, Just Words seeks the reality of power in the everyday practice and application of the law. As the only study of its type, the book is the definitive treatment of the topic that will be welcomed by students and specialists alike.

About this title

Synopsis

In Just Words, John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr tackle the question of how an abstract entity exerts concrete power, focusing on what has become the central issue in law and language research: what language reveals about the nature of legal power. Each chapter covers a language-based approach to a different area of the law, from the cross-examinations of victims and witnesses to the inequities of divorce mediation. In this new edition, Conley and O'Barr add two new chapters. The first looks at the ways in which ideology is embodied in language, and the second examines the impact of linguists as expert witnesses. The authors have also added a new preface in which, from the vantage point of thirty years in the field, they lay out their vision of the next generation of law and language research. Combining careful analysis of common legal events with a broad range of scholarship on language and law, Just Words is an indispensable book for both students and scholars seeking to understand the reality of the power of language in everyday legal practice.

About the Author

John M. Conley is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina Law School. William M. O'Barr is professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University where he also holds appointments in the departments of English and sociology. Their many works include Rules versus Relationships, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0226114880
• ISBN 13: 9780226114880
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 226