Vogel LegalLinguisticsGermany 2019

Duncker & Humblot GmbH
Chapter Title: Legal Linguistics in Germany. History, Working Groups, Concepts

Chapter Author(s): Friedemann Vogel
Book Title: Legal Linguistics Beyond Borders: Language and Law in a World of Media,
Globalisation and Social Conflicts.
Book Subtitle: Relaunching the International Language and Law Association (ILLA).
Book Editor(s): Friedemann Vogel
Published by: Duncker & Humblot GmbH. (2019)
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Legal Linguistics in Germany
History, Working Groups, Concepts1
By Friedemann Vogel, Siegen
Abstract
Legal linguistics in Germany deals, as a branch of the discipline of language and legal sci-
ence, with the linguistically-communicative ‘constitution’ of the societal institution of law. The
German-speaking research regarding language and law harks back to the antiquity, but it is only
since the age of the Enlightenment, that attempts have been made to collect, describe, and criti-
cize legal language (I). The modern legal linguistics consolidates as academic discipline since
the 70s of the 20th century. On the way of professionalization, interdisciplinary working groups,
important publications, initial degree programs as well as the practical usage in context of le-
gislation, evolved (II). To the established working areas of German legal linguists, does count
especially the work with legal expertise, legal as technical language or rather written and spoken
communication as well as institutionalized procedures of interpretation in the legal theory and
practice (III). Still unclear are the consequences of digitalized and supranational legal (text)
work, the possibilities and limits of corpus-linguistics as a toolkit to legal semantics, as well
as the procedures of norm-genesis and legislation (IV).
Keywords: Legal linguistics, Germany, Semantics, Pragmatics, Language criticism
I. The linguistic constitution of society and law
The work with the mediality and the linguistic character of the law sui generis is
not an invention of modern legal linguistics. Reflections about, in which manner and
why norms of the societal cohabitation need to be composed and processed, can be
found since the antiquity and the medieval times. This is where the German legal lan-
guage and with it, German-speaking legal linguistics have their roots.
One of the earliest explicit testimonies for contemplations about, in which form
over social norms and society should be discussed, is to be found in Platos philosoph-
ic dialogue Phaedrus (274b – 278e, 62011). In this fictional, approximately in the
4th century before Christ occurred dialogue, Socrates and the Athenian Phaedrus dis-
1
Basis of this text is a reduced version of: Vogel, Friedemann (2017): Rechtslinguistik:
Zur Bestimmung einer Fachrichtung. In: Ekkehard Felder / Friedemann Vogel (Eds.): Hand-
buch Sprache im Recht, pp. 209 – 231. Berlin, Boston: Mouton de Gruyter (Handbücher
Sprachwissen, 12). Thank you very much to Leonie Lück (University of Siegen) for her great
support to translate this text.
100 Friedemann Vogel
cuss the question, if it is possible to negotiate about what is good and just, and with
this ultimately also about the Greek Polis (Politeia) as well in written form, if so the
medium of writing could be a medium of awareness and criticism. Socrates (and with
him Plato) negates this: The script is – as an ‘garden of Adonis’ (Adonisgärtchen) –
created just as medium of the beautiful play (literature), but inappropriate for the
process of judgement, because it is voiceless and helpless against argumentative at-
tacks and misunderstandings. Only the vivid speech could promote dialectic percep-
tion (cf. Szlezák 1985: 7 – 19, 386 – 405).
The metadiscursive relation of textuality and orality also plays an important role
from the early Middle Ages until the Reformation, as far as it stands for the compe-
ting cultural-hegemonial relation of (old) Roman and (strengthening) Germanic so-
cial order and legal culture, or more general, between Latin-speaking reign- and “col-
loquial”-speaking subaltern classes.
From such confrontation between Latin text- and legal-culture and Germanic oral-
based legal culture, testifies implicitly already the in the 6th century under the Ger-
man-Franconian King Chlodwig I. authored Malbergischen Glossen. The latter are
no glosses in the common sense, but rather colloquial additions and explanations (so
called Bußweistümer) to the first Latin version of Pactus Legis Salicae and do belong
to the oldest layer of the Germanic legal-language (Roll 1972; Schmidt-Wiegand et
al. (Ed.) 1991; Schmidt-Wiegand 1998a: 76 f.).
Two centuries later Charlemagne (Karl der Große, 747 – 814 A.D.) strove for tex-
tualization of spoken law in form of the ‘Carolingian capitularies’ (‘karolingischen
Kapitularien’) and mandated 802/3, that the judges should judge from now on only
after written law (ibid. 77).
From the same time, (8th/9th century) there is also a lot of evidence of the expres-
sion theodiscus documented (Jakobs 2011: 37 f.). This word (lat. for ‘vernacular lan-
guage’), which later on also gained the meaning ‘German’, has its historical origin in
the context of law. As theodisca lingua served it as marker of legal expressions to
emphasize their procedural as well as for the judgement relevant functional role
in the ancient Germanic law. All law-words of lingua theodisca are Franconian
words, accentuate the Franconian claim to power in the word (sicut Franci dicunt)
and refer to an on orality established law (ibid.).
In the 13th century the famous, under the hand of Eike von Repgows occurred and
often copied Sachsenspiegel, follows the motivation of Charlemagne by capturing, so
far only orally passed on, not-Latin legal culture of the state of Saxony in writing and
partly extensively pictorial illustrations for posterity. The Sachsenspiegel generates a
specific juridical terminology and a kind of specialists’ syntax for the first time and
establishes the new German legal-sources genre of law books (1200 – 1500; cf.
Schmidt-Wiegand 1998a: 80 ff.). These books were not only to preserve the law.
Much more they have been part of the attempt of making law-texts in Latin available
for the people and understandable for a bigger target audience (Deutsch 2013: 35 ff.).
They testify implicitly from a very early reflection of language as a mediating author-
Legal Linguistics in Germany 101
ity between the law system (which apart from that was only available for academics)
and legal practice (which all subalterns belonged to).
If religion and church are understood as major institutions of the social structure
and as influential instance of the whole legal culture, the German Reformation is as
well an important discursive battlefield for the linguistic constitution of norms and
their scope of application in the 16th/17th century. Martin Luther didn’t just want to
make the testament commonly understandable through its translation. With the sola-
scriptura-principle, he valorized the gospel in the reformation theology and separated
the scripture from the sovereignty of interpretation of the pope and councils (Blickle
2000: 52 ff.). From now on, every person could and should create his own picture of
the God-given order of life, even though still among the standards of the biblical text.
This authority of the scripture (the verbum externum), was in turn rejected by Thomas
Müntzer in his “antithetic of scripture and spirit” (Antithetik von Schrift und Geist,
ibid. 76) while he instead, determined the individual experience of God (verbum in-
ternum) as dominant. For Müntzer, the scripture without spirit was dead, but the spirit
without scripture perfectly viable.
In the 17th and 18th century, language-patriotic and enlightening motives were de-
veloped, which discussed the – from now on in particular written – constitution of the
law.
Even though a scolding of ‘legal jargon’ is already to be found in Ackermann aus
Böhmen, of the Prague notary Johannes von Tepl (around 1400) or in Luther’s works,
a systematic, culture-patriotic framed cultivation of language and with this, efforts
towards a German standard language occur not until the 17th century (Schmidt-Wie-
gand 1998b: 90; von Polenz 22013: 117 ff.). Significant forces at this were formed by
different language-communities like the Fruitbearing Society (Fruchtbringende Ge-
sellschaft, so-called “Palmenorden”, 1617 – 1680). Numerous of their members were
lawyers (“Dichterjuristen”), which strove for a cultural-political idealized ‘pure’
German language. The objective was the exemption of the German language from
foreign (linguistic) influences, and the Germanization of Latin and French words.
For instance, Justus Georg Schottelius (1612 – 1676), as well as the founder of the
Teutsch-gesinnten Genossenschaft, Philipp von Zesen (1619 – 1689) had a partially
sustainable impact on legal language (Schmidt-Wiegand 1998b: 91).
In the context of linguistic reflection (in the age of Enlightment), the lawyer and
philosopher Christian Thomasius (1655 – 1728) held his first lecture in German lan-
guage in 1687 in Leipzig and paved the way for a German legal language as well in
the area of science (Thomasius 1699). His student Christian Wolff (1679 – 1754) de-
veloped numerous juristic definitions and termini technici which were stable in use,
in order to ensure “clarity and transparency of the legal language based on logically
defined terms in a consistent system of concepts [Begriffspyramide]” (Schmidt-Wie-
gand 1998b: 92; König 2001; own translation). In 1748, Montesquieu (1689 – 1755)
demanded a short style and comprehensibility as a basis for reasonable thinking, in
terms of his “Vernunftlehre” (Schmidt-Wiegand 1998b: ibid.). Furthermore, Gott-
fried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716) also had special influence as president of the
Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (Sozietät der Wissenschaften in Preußen)
and his initiative for the purity of the German language. Under the general inspec-
torate (11. 07. 1700) of the Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich III., he endeavored
to create an inventory of the current and a collection of the historical legal words,
and motivated by this the emergence of numerous reference works in terms of
legal language (Kronauer/Garber 2001: 1; Gardt 2001).
The objective pursued by the enlighteners was above all, to have commonly com-
prehensible laws (for instance in form of the General State Laws for the Prussian
States (Preußisches Allgemeines Landrecht)), so that even juridical laymen could
distinguish between right and wrong (Deutsch 2013: 60). The importance of lan-
guage and linguistic history, as well for the juridical methodology (for reflection
see Bühler 2001), was finally discovered by Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779 –
1861). The founder of the influential historical law-school stated, “the law as well
as the language [lives] in the awareness of the people” (own translation; already
in similar words: Johann Gottfried Herder, cf. Schmidt-Wiegand 1998a: 73) and
asked for
each person, who has a sense for appropriate style, and who does not see the language as a
cruel device, but rather as a medium of art, if we have a language, in which a legal code could
be written (Savigny 1814: 52; own translation).
A reformation of the officialese was – above all, driven by the Viennese lawyer
Joseph von Sonnenfels (1732 – 1817), as well as the librarian and linguistic research-
er Johann Christoph Adelung (1732 – 1806) – negotiated under the guiding concept
of Geschäftsstil (‘business style’) (Asmuth 2013). In distinction from the scorned
elder ‘barbaric’ law-style (Kanzleistil) of the 15th century, Sonnenfels and Adelung
developed textbooks for the formulation of authority texts like notices, protocols, pe-
titions etc. (Adelung 1785: 82). According to Sonnenfels, a well-formulated Ge-
schäftsstil follows in compliance with the virtutes elocutionis of the antique rhetoric,
the principles of distinctness, accuracy, brevity, decency as well as baldness (Asmuth
2013: 86). The stylistics of the two, have had a great effect on the juridical and ad-
ministration education, as well as – with Sonnenfels as an editor – an impact even on
the law editorial department under Joseph II. (cf. Kocher 2013: 211).
At the beginning of the 19th century, the first lexicographic and grammatical ap-
proaches for the systematic description of legal language developed. As the first one
and through influence of his teacher Savigny, Jacob Grimm (1785 – 1863) investiga-
ted the historical relation of law and language (Grimm 1815/1972) and developed a
first grammar of law with a view on words, formulas, symbols i.a. (Grimm 1828/
1899; cf. Schmidt-Wiegand 1998a: 73 f.). The Weisthümer (1840 – 1878/1957)
which are also published by Jacob Grimm, form a for empirical purposes systematic
collection of historical legal sources, which preserve apart from that only orally
passed down legal traditions.
The lexicographic works of the Brothers Grimm laid the foundation for the mo-
dern, in the range of subjects established, legal lexicography (for – the largely unex-
plored – field-history of the legal lexicography see Speer 1989). Classified as central
follow-up projects are especially the Dictionaries of Historical German Legal Terms:
The Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch (DRW, 1917-; ibid. and Deutsch (Ed.) 2010) as
well as the Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (HRG, 1917).
II. To the professionalization of research, teaching and practice
1. Research interests and objectives of legal linguistics
The German legal linguistics as a university discipline, beyond the lexicographic

research interest, did not develop until the 20th century, the expression appears spora-
dically since the 1970s (Nussbaumer 1997: 10). Until the end of the 90s, it is con-
troversial to what extent it should be spoken of an “established” discipline (ibid.).
Even ten years later, professorships with a denomination like “legal linguistics”
are rather an exception, in contrast to those of “legal history” or “linguistic history”.
Nevertheless, in the meantime it is possible to outline a core of legal-linguistic inter-
ests and objectives, whose professionalization proceeds continuous in terms of re-
search, teaching and practice (2):
(a) Modern legal linguistics deal, as an established sub-discipline of linguistics and
legal studies, with the linguistically-communicative constitution of the societal
institution of law. It investigates empirically, with the help of qualitative and
quantitative methods, linguistic as well as multimedia forms and their symbolic
use in the context of legislation, judiciary and administration, jurisprudential re-
search, teaching and legal commentaries.
(b) Legal linguists often associate the classification and description of linguistic
phenomena with an emancipatory attitude in view of an appropriate theory
and methodology of the legal practice as well as their transparency towards
all legal subjects, especially juridical laymen.
(c) Beyond the classic phenomenal domain of general philology, legal linguistics
dedicates itself intensified to the following aspects: legal semantics, processes
of understanding and (institutionalized) procedures of interpretation, as well
as argumentation in the legal theory and practice (from the normative text to
the decision); law as (inter-)textual network; the conflictual relation between
legal register (expertise) and common linguistic varieties (everyday knowledge);
conversations in court and in the administration; as well as explicit and implicit
language theories in law.
(d) The more recent phenomenal domain of legal linguistics, overlaps in multiple
cases with those of other (sub-)disciplines, such as in particular sociology
(legal and non-legal norms, semiotic patterns of behavior in the law), media lin-
guistics (interdependency of media and law), political communication (political
language), sociolinguistics (language policy, linguistic human rights), language

criticism (comprehensibility, gender), discourse linguistics (negotiation of epis-
temes and power through legal language), computational linguistics (analysis of
legal language patterns) and legislation doctrine (norm(text)genesis).
(e) The forensic linguistics (“Forensische Linguistik”) and forensic phonetics
(“Forensische Phonetik”) of the German-speaking area in contrast, does not
aim primarily at the phenomenal domain of a ‘constitutional state as text struc-
ture’, but rather implements application-oriented services as a contribution to the
clarification of circumstances in trial and prosecution (especially according to
the speaker- and author-recognition), since the 70s (in context of the RAF-ter-
rorism) on the basis of (general-)philological theory and methodology. In this
sense, forensic linguistics are highly professionalized, reaching up to the training
of crime departments.
(f) Current research desiderata of legal linguistics in Germany are in the areas of (in
detail hereto chapter IV):
– digitality of law (law as hypertext);
– corpus- and computational linguistic approaches to the law (analogous to the
USA);
– accessibility of legal-texts in general and specifically for research and teaching
(Provision of large legal-text-corpora);
– language-mediated norm-genesis across to specialist’s and general language
both in general and in empirical case studies;
– problems of multilingualism in context of supranational legal area.
2. Issues of legal linguistics professionalization
To what extent one could speak of “established” legal linguistics in Germany (and
other German-speaking countries, especially Switzerland), can be verified by the de-
gree of professionalization, especially regarding working groups (a), publications
and references (b), the formation of university profiles (c) as well as implementations
in the context of legislation (d).
a) Interdisciplinary working groups on language and law
A large portion of today’s research basis, was and is being developed within the
scope of interdisciplinary working groups, consisting of linguistic and legal scien-
tists, practicing lawyers (advocates, judges) as well as occasionally philosophers, his-
torians and social and computer scientists. In the Federal Republic of Germany at
least the following groups can be documented:
The Darmstadt group “Analysis of the juridical language” (“Analyse Darmstädt-

er Gruppe”) is today being regarded as earliest working group, which dealt on the
initiative of lawyers and computer scientists from 1970 until 1974 within several con-
gresses with the topic of language and law (cf. Rave / Brinkmann / Grimmer (Ed.)
1971). The subject matter was especially the development of automated (mechani-
cal) procedures for law analysis and interpretation (“subsumption-machines” in the
literal sense), whereat linguists had only played a minor role though. The group dis-
persed very soon, what can nowadays be traced back to the adherence to law-posi-
tivism and ignorance of hermeneutic basic knowledge (cf. Busse 2000: 804 ff.).
In 1984, the legal scholar Friedrich Müller (Heidelberg) and the linguist Rainer
Wimmer (Trier/Mannheim) jointly founded the Heidelberger working group of
legal linguistics (Heidelberger Arbeitsgruppe der Rechtslinguistik). Since its foun-
dation, different linguists and legal scholars from theory and practice constantly
meet up in Heidelberg; since 2014, the working group has been coordinated by
the legal linguist, Friedemann Vogel (Siegen). In the meantime, many dissertations
(i.a. Christensen 1989; Jeand’Heur 1989; Li 2011; Vogel 2012; Luth 2015), habili-
tations (such as Busse 1992; Felder 2003) as well as different joint publications (Mül-
ler (Ed.) 1989, 2007; Müller / Wimmer (Ed.) 2001; Müller / Burr (Ed.) 2004, Vogel
(Ed.) 2015, 2017) have evolved out of this. The group is united by the theoretical
basis, that law is an institutionalized form of textual work and this work could be de-
scribed on the one hand, based on the “Strukturierende Rechtslehre”, and on the other
hand, on the theories of linguistic pragmatics and professional communication re-
search (cf. as well http://www.recht-und-sprache.de/, 27. 11. 2013).
The interdisciplinary working group language of law (Interdisziplinäre Arbeits-
gruppe Sprache des Rechts) from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, re-
vealed a three-volume publication around the legal scholar and project coordinator
Dr. Kent D. Lerch, between 2001 and 2005 (Lerch (Ed.) 2004 – 2005).
The working party Language and Law (Sprache und Recht) at the University of
Regensburg, founded and instructed by the legal scholar Christian Lohse, hosts regu-
larly interdisciplinary congresses and awards a prize for young academics, annually
since 2008, which addresses the collective main subject (http://www-spracheun
drecht.uni-regensburg.de, 29. 11. 2013).
In the research network language and knowledge (Sprache und Wissen), founded
in 2005, is a domain of knowledge law established (led by linguist Ekkehard Felder,
Heidelberg and lawyer-linguist Markus Nussbaumer, Bern). The idea of the network
domain is to compare two ways of thinking and speaking – professional legal think-
ing versus every day knowledge – and to identify mediating bridges between both
perspectives.
In 2015, lawyer Hanjo Hamann (Bonn) and linguist Friedemann Vogel (Siegen)
initiated the International Research Group on Computer Assisted Legal Linguistics
(CAL2). The working group develops and uses computer supported procedures for
the analysis of legal text work on the basis of very large amounts of data. The
group develops the largest reference corpus (text collection) of the German-language
law as well as a research and experimental platform for the investigation of juridical
semantics (Vogel / Hamann / Gauer 2017; see chapter IV.2.).
b) Milestones of publications and resources in German Legal Linguistics
Traces of the increasing profiling of an academic legal linguistic are especially to

be found in the publications. That is why a series of print and online bibliographies
do exist by now (such as Bülow / Schneider 1981; Reitemeier / Bettscheider 1985;
Levi 1994 or the online bibliographies of Ruth Morris and Ludger Hoffmann). Also
noteworthy is the detailed and commented bibliography of Nussbaumer (1997), as
well as the online bibliography DORES (http://www.dores.admin.ch/, 21. 04.
2015), which has been supervised by Nussbaumer until 2016.
German-language introductions, student- and handbooks regarding legal linguis-
tics, or rather its subject area, are so far still manageable: Fobbe 2011; Rathert 2006;
Felder / Vogel (Ed.) 2017.
German-language legal linguistics publishes predominantly in national publica-
tion organs, as well as – increasingly – in international periodicals: The International
Journal of Speech, Language and Law (IJSLL, since 1994 journal of the Internation-
al Association of Forensic Linguists), Language & Law (E-Journal since 2012 of the
International Language and Law Association), the International Journal for the
Semiotics of Law (since 1987) as well as the International Journal of Law, Language
& Discourse (www.ijlld.com; since 2011). A little younger is the Zeitschrift für Euro-
päische Rechtslinguistik (ZERL; Journal of European Legal Linguistics). Since
1996, there is the German monograph series Rechtslinguistik (edited by Claire
Kramsch, Claus and Karin Luttermann; LIT); since 2017, a broader bilingual (Ger-
man/English) monographic series on Language and Media of Law is published by the
traditional publisher Duncker & Humblot (edited by Ralph Christensen and Friede-
mann Vogel).
The domain www.rechtslinguistik.de is registered since 2007; on 5th of June 2004,
the first Wikipedia article of the lemma Rechtslinguistik (legal linguistics) was cre-
ated by an anonymous computer scientist.
c) Study paths
As measured by the research volume and the increasing relevance of legal linguis-
tics worldwide, it is surprising that this special field does only have very few institu-
tional education bases within the German-language academic landscape, apart from
particular research focusses of individual scientists. Under the direction of the lin-
guist Isolde Burr-Haase, the bachelor’s program European legal linguistics (Europäi-
sche Rechtslinguistik) has started in winter semester 2007/2008, at the University of
Cologne. The study enhances, besides legal and linguistic main areas, especially the
acquisition of multilingual competences. With an eye towards the prospective occu-

pations in the EU, the degree program provides special services for the profession-
alization of legal linguistics. Since the winter semester 2008/2009, a master’s degree
can be acquired as well.
d) Legal linguists in the context of legislation
The greatest degree of professionalization has been reached in terms of the in-
creasing establishment of legal-linguistic specialists, in the last twenty years, in con-
text of cross-lingual law-editing. Against the backdrop of increased language criti-
cism about “incomprehensible” legislative texts, different projects and approaches
were formed towards a citizen-friendly legal language, since the 70 s (Nussbaumer
1997: 6). In this context, so-called “linguistic-services” have been created at different
administrative places (especially in the legislation), in which linguists und lawyers
work together for an optimization of legal texts (laws, regulations etc.). The linguis-
tic-services of the Swiss Federal Chancellery under the responsibility of Dr. Markus
Nussbaumer (Nussbaumer 2002) have become pioneering in theory and practice.
Since 1966, the editorial staff of the Association for the German Language (Gesell-
schaft für Deutsche Sprache (GfDS)) in the Bundestag (parliament) offers editorial
and general language advice to the members of legislature and executive. The remit
of the editorial staff is laid down in § 80a of the rules of procedure of the Bundestag
(GOBT), according to which he for instance
due to a resolution of the responsible commission, has to examine a draft law for linguistic
accuracy and comprehensibility and give recommendations to the commissions if needed
(§ 80a GOBT; own translation).
Subsequent to the pilot project Comprehensible laws (Verständliche Gesetze

(2007 – 2008)) of the GfDS at the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ), an editorial
panel of the parliament (Redaktionsstab Rechtsprache) with up to nine legal lin-
guists, under the direction of the lawyer and linguist Stephanie Thieme was estab-
lished in 2009. § 42 of the Common Ministerial Rules of Procedure (Gemeinsamen
Geschäftsordnung der Bundesministerien, GGO) requires, that in principle draft laws
need to be supplied to the new editorial staff, to be checked for their linguistic accu-
racy and comprehensibility (cf. Vogel 2017).
III. Established working areas

of German legal linguistics
The essential, established working areas of German-language legal linguistics are

extensively documented in the handbook “Sprache im Recht” (Language in the law,
Felder / Vogel (Ed.) 2017). The three following phenomenal domains will be empha-
sized at this point:
1. Terminology, general language and

their conflicting relation to each other
A large part of legal linguistic research in Germany, Austria and Switzerland deals
with the lexical-grammatical specifics of the written and spoken legal terminology in
contrast to the general language or rather other terminologies (cf. at a glance: d’Heur
1998; Felder 2011), whereat the domains of legal-lexicography as well as conversa-
tion analysis in context of communication in court seem to be the most renowned. In
this context, it was quickly recognized, that legal language does not only include ter-
mini technici, but also large parts consisting of expressions of the general language
use. That the latter ones, have partially adopted a discipline-specific meaning in the
institutional use and that this is especially for laymen not detectable, has also con-
tributed to the considerable criticism about the lack of clarity of law, in an early
stage. The discussion about if and how legal language should be made “commonly
comprehensible”, remains unabated in the general linguistics (above all, language
criticism), as well as even stronger in language associations and linguistic lay-
man-clubs (Schendera 2004; Sternberger 1981; Lerch (Ed.) 2004; Eichhoff-Cyrus
/ Antos (Ed.) 2008).
Within the legal linguistics, the insight, that the scale of “comprehensibility” must
be differentiated target audience specific, has been implemented by now (Nussbaum-
er 2002, 2004). A norm- or administrative text can therefore only be optimized in
reference to its specific group of target recipients. “Common comprehensibility”
of the legal language itself, is, of course, desirable in a democracy, but from a lan-
guage-theoretical as well as practical point of view is a general comprehensibility not
considered feasible under the present societal regulatory framework (Busse 2004).
Against this backdrop, many different reception studies and projects for the im-
provement of administrative language were formed (cf. for a project in cooperation
with the city of Bochum: Händel et al. 2001; Fluck 2004, 2007). The linguistic ser-
vices of the Swiss Federal Chancellery, as well as the editorial panel of legal linguis-
tics (Redaktionsstab Rechtssprache) at the Federal Ministry of Justice (cf. II.2.d),
whose work is hardly empirically supported until now (cf. IV.3), strive for the pro-
fessional optimization of norm-texts at the level of legislation (Nussbaumer 2007).
2. Legal semantics: legal work as textual work
The close collaboration between lawyers and linguists, especially in the Heidel-
berger group of legal linguistics (Heidelberger Gruppe der Rechtslinguistik; II.2.a)
has emerged various publications, which reflect the role of language in legal theory,
methodology and practice. What they all have in common, is the criticism of the pos-
itivistic linguistic model of traditional legal doctrine, which assumes a reliable, solid
bond of meaning (i. e. norm as well) and expression (i. e. often norm-text). Language
is a tool on this model, an “Instrument of selection […], a kind of conveyer belt,
which brings the ‘normative meaning-substance’ contained in the language to the
user.” (criticized by Christensen / Kudlich 2002: 239 f., Christensen / Jeand’Heur

1989: 12; Christensen / Sokolowski 2002; own translation). There are no communi-
cators or responsible ones for the interpretation, in this mechanistic image of lan-
guage. The legislative text seems to speak for itself, the judge is degraded to a
mouth of the law (Montesquieu), who only ‘interprets’ the semantic ‘included’ in
the text.
In contrast legal linguists stress the constructive contribution of the speaker-writer
to the legal work as textual work with pragmatic arguments (Busse 1992, 1993; Mül-
ler / Christensen / Sokolowski 1997). In this research perspective, the institutional-
ized procedures of textualization – beginning with the first description of ‘facts’ and
their linguistic preparation for the legal case (Seibert 1981) right up to the text of a
decision – come to the fore. The studies investigate, how the different input data are
processed in the text, and how controversial issues as well as legal standards are or are
not integrated (Felder 2005, 2010). According to that, a statute (an institutionalized
norm-text) is and has to be the central reference point of legal argumentation, but it is
only the tip of the iceberg: “The legal text is not container of the legal norm, but rather
transit area of competing interpretations.” (Müller / Christensen / Sokolowski 1997:
19; own translation).
Based on this hermeneutical theory frame, the pragmatic aspects in law were ex-
plored for numerous parts of legal theory and methodology, for example, regarding:
litigation as semantic fight in judicial (Felder 2010; Li 2011; Luth 2015) and legis-
lative (Vogel 2012) discourses, the rule of law (Christensen 1989), the canons of in-
terpretation (Kudlich / Christensen 2004), as well as further questions of the legal
reproduction of knowledge and norm text interpretation (cf. Müller / Christensen
11
2013; Müller / Christensen / Sokolowski 1997 i.a.; Busse 1989, 1998, 2000,
2001, 2004; Felder 2003, 2005).
3. Communication in court
While the analysis of legal text types (text genres) in German still holds large de-
siderata (Busse 2000a, 2000b), the verbal communication in court is deemed to be
well explored in comparison (overview in Hoffmann (Ed.) 1983, 1989, 2001,
2017). In the focus of the ethno-methodological, sociolinguistic, conversation-
and speech-analytical studies, are explicitly the procedures of understanding and
misunderstanding, the contextualization of different actors (Gumperz 1982), as
well as their rituals and styles of communicative interaction depending on habitual
variables (origin, educational background, age, gender etc.). All levels of social-sym-
bolism, like facial expressions, gestures, prosody, proxemics and their contribution to
the relationship level of communicative microstructures are being considered with
the help of auditory and audiovisual recordings.
The studies show: The apparently only given “case” of a social conflict, is, in fact,
the result of a complex interactive (re)construction of facts and the involved oppo-
nents are narrators of a (usually) controversial story (to “story construction” see Ben-
ett / Feldman 1981). Which success the actors do achieve, for example by the pre-
sentation of “facts”, “will be seen in the light of […] [their] presentation of person-
ality.” (Hoffmann 2001: 1541; cf. earlier already Wodak 1975, own translation). Self-
presentation, face work and trustworthiness (Wolff 1995; cf. also Pick 2015) become
a central currency for process participants, which can determine the outcome of the
institutionalized as well as ritualized procedure in court (Atkinson / Drew 1979;
Drew 1985) and equally in the arbitration procedure at the arbitral tribunal (e. g.
Nothdurft / Stickel (Ed.) 1995, Nothdurft 1997).
IV. Pending issues and new research fields
1. Digitization of the law
The implementation and continuous increase of computer-based work processes

has already reached the legal system: By now, several specialized professional data-
bases are available for lawyers, which replace, or at least modify the traditional tex-
tual sources and the related working routines. Large databases like Juris or Beck On-
line keep millions of texts available “at a mouse-click” at any time and poses more
frequently a problem of “information overload” to lawyers and other law workers
(Morlok 2015). At the same time, they enable an effective search and filtration for
pertinent precedents regardless of the location. Court decisions can be “pre”scribed
with the help of appropriate software, that means, store and (re)assemble text com-
ponents or successful chains of arguments if needed. This building-block technique
can contribute to standardization and legal certainty; but it can also lead to a concen-
tration on easily available (and with that, explicitly new) precedents, the information
overload to a tendency to argumentum ab auctoritate or tendency towards fragmen-
tation (selection of suitable things, while negligence of the respective contextual cor-
relations, de-contextualization). It is also unclear, to what extend the digitization of
texts will contribute to a monopoly position of few publishers and if this position
would produce methodological boundaries in the future (that means, that those
who ‘only’ print or that what ‘only’ is printed, becomes factually less important).
On the other hand, law becomes more transparent through the new media format
of the hypertext (that means in particular digitally-supported interactivity and
non-linearity of text processing, cf. Sager 2000); hypertext visualizes the intertex-
tuality of law (Morlok 2004, 2014; Müller / Christensen 32012: 235 ff.) and falsifies
the common assumption of traditional legal methodology (Christensen / Lerch 2005:
111 f., Kudlich 2009: 21).
This and other consequences of the new mediality of the law for the institutional
practice are in Germany and international so far uninvestigated or at the state of un-
verified hypothesis (a first sorting, as well as an overview of the mediatization of the
law, displays Vogel (Ed.) 2015).
The internet has not only facilitated the access to legal information for lawyers,
but also for legal laymen: In the meantime, legal layman can find almost all laws for
personal research digitally. In addition, there are new communication formats, like –
for example analogous to the netdoctor – legal (remote) consultation through wiki’s,
forums or commercial providers, both between laymen and between specialized law-
yers and laymen. It remains unclear, how these new procedures of information pro-
curement and knowledge-configuration, as well as the associated interplay of legal
terminology and laymen language, will effect on concrete legal procedures and the
other way around, how legal incidents of norm genesis will be processed in the ‘in-
ternet community’. With that it must be taken into account, that the easier access to
regulatory texts, likewise brings up so far unconsidered problems: Because it con-
ceals, that the relevant texts of legal interpretation – comments, essays, court deci-
sions – cannot, or only can be called up selectively for a large fee. Especially the com-
mercialization and access restriction of fundamental texts for the legal system, like
the mentioned above, should also be accompanied critically by legal linguists and if
necessary be reviewed by the courts.
2. Computer-assisted methods to explore legal semantics
Attempts to calculate legal meaning or even decisions in court automatically with

the computer and by that to put the, from a legal linguistic perspective, misguiding
concept of the “subsumption automaton” into practice, exist since the early 1970s (cf.
Kudlich 2009, also chap. II.2.a). These approaches however failed up to now, because
of their mechanistic theory of language as well as their insufficient consideration of
the cognitive-constructive complexity of juridical case- construction (Jeand’Heur
1998: 1292).
In particular originating from a criticism at the introspection of legal interpreta-
tion (for example, regarding the question, what the general linguistic use of the ‘aver-
age citizen’ be, Hamann 2015), new approaches of computer-assisted analysis of lan-
guage in legal context developed, both in the Anglo-Saxon area and Germany since
the early 2000s. What the approaches do have in common, is the usage of (corpus-
linguistic) specialist software, as well as prepared text corpora for inductive-empiri-
cally calculations and the following interpretation of language use patterns in close
interdisciplinary cooperation with the respective specialist lawyers. These new em-
pirical analysis methods compete with traditional and intuitive practices like the
judge’s preference for dictionaries as ‘language codes’ (Mouritsen 2010, 2011);
other studies try to explore recurrent language patterns in big corpora as sediments
of legal dogmatics (Vogel 2012, Christensen / Vogel 2013; Vogel et al. 2015; Vogel
2017a).
The greatest challenge for future corpus-linguistical oriented legal linguistics is
currently the construction of edited legal text-corpora. Several smaller project-cor-
pora do exist in the meantime. From 2015 until 2017, the worldwide first reference-
corpus of German-language law, which takes all relevant subject areas of the legal
system (judiciary, legislature, executive, jurisprudence) into account, was established

(JuReko or CAL2 Corpus of German Law) under the direction of Friedemann Vogel
and Hanjo Hamann and with support of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Hu-
manities (Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaft) (cf. Vogel / Hamann / Gauer
2017; http://www.jureko.de).
The heuristic added-value of the new methodological accesses beyond core inter-
ests in linguistics (description of the legal language and communication) for the prac-
tical legal work needs to be tested further. First considerations show that quantitative
assisted (not qualitative methods replacing) interpretation can review speculative hy-
pothesis in the legal-theory due an empirical grounding. This means that also basic
principles of legal methodology are under consideration. Finally, there are possible
applications in the legislation, especially in the effort for a consistent legal language
(cf. Baumann 2015).
3. Legislation and norm-genesis
The procedures of text production and knowledge-genesis in courts from the first
input data up to the decision can be considered as well investigated. In contrast still
widely unexplored, are the discursive processes, as well as concrete textualization-
procedures at the other end of norm-genesis, namely in context of legislature and ex-
ecutive (along with ministries and associated institutions).
There are many reasons for this. For one thing, is already the access to empirical
data in contrast to the judicial processes notably restricted. While the majority of rel-
evant texts in the trial is not only available for those who are involved in the process,
but in anonymized or generalized form also for all legal subjects, the majority of the
legislative negotiation and textualization processes takes place behind closed doors.
Only rarely and usually only with controversial legislative initiatives, do find earlier
versions of a norm text and/or politically motivated accompanying texts, which al-
lowed conclusions for the underlying procedure, into the public.
Another reason is the complexity or problematic restriction of the object of inves-
tigation: Where does the norm-genesis ‘start’ (in the parliament, in the ministerial
working groups, in the conflicting lifeworld etc.), where does it end (with resolution,
with publication in the Federal Law Gazette, with “validity” of a norm text, his im-
plementation in the executive, his acceptance in the population etc.)? Which age
groups and discourse domains are relevant for the respective process and require con-
sideration in which manner (actors or texts from judiciary, legislature, executive,
media, jurisprudence etc.)?
These and other methodological questions are subject of a first legal linguistic
study (Vogel 2012), which reproduces the different connections of life, norm and tex-
tual world, on the example of the so called “Online-searches” (Online-Durchsu-
chung) in police and security law.
4. Multilingualism in the supranational legal sphere
Numerous research questions which are still pending or already examined in the
national legal system, arise in the supranational area in exponentiated complexity.
The background to this is the especially with the clash of different legal cultures con-
nected multilingualism (Müller / Burr (Ed.) 2004). By now, 24 official languages
face each other on the EU level, which have an equal status and constitute the com-
mon EU-law after article 55 of the EU treaty (EUV). The problem can be illustrated
as follows:
the community law needs a common language to arrive in the reality. Only then it is practi-
cable. But at the same time, it has to respect the national languages. Only then it is compre-
hensible for its citizens. By that, the language becomes the decisive point for the impact of
the community law (Müller / Christensen 32012: 27; own translation).
By the construction of the Tower of Babel – how can multilingual law guarantee
both, practicability and legal certainty? – legal linguists worked at different central
areas, beginning at the legal methodology (language comparative interpretation; on
an empirically based criticism on the methodology of the European Court of Justice
(ECJ) cf. Schübel-Pfister 2004) up to extensive interpretation and translation work.
By this, it is already in general controversial, if the normative enshrined multilingual-
ism is only an administration problem that has to be resolved, or if it not also presents
opportunities for national and supranational legal cultures. Braselmann (1992, 2002),
for instance, problematizes that the normative prescribed diversity of the officialese
covers up, as “fiction”, the factual dominance of the French (and English) in the legal
language. She pleads therefore analogous to the public international law in favor of a
transparent “principle of primacy of the original version” (“Prinzip des Vorranges der
Urfassung”; own translation; Braselmann 2002: 252). C. / K. Luttermann (2004) and
Luttermann (2007) also perceive a divergence of the actual and target state, as well as
difficulties for the European communication and plead therefore in favor of a “ref-
erence language model” (“Referenzsprachenmodell”; own translation) for the EU
law, based on a system of two reference languages for all European legislative
acts as well as subordinated administrative languages.
Müller / Christensen (32012: 268 ff.) also consider numerous practical difficulties
reasoned due to the supranational multilingualism. Though they emphasize the meth-
odological added value regarding the ECJ: The multilingualism shifts the theoretical
focus from ‘the’ norm text and ‘the’ norm towards the subject, which has to assume
responsibility for its methods, data and arguments constructing the law. By this,
Article 55 EUV forces “the judge, to leave the apparent certainty of the own lan-
guage. He has to shift into the insecure area of different languages.” (ibid., 29;
own translation). A reduction to only two reference languages would even be a “dis-
advantage”, according to that (Wimmer 2009: 237): “The more linguistically formu-
lated/fixed aspects a court can take into account, all the more certain can it be that a
judgement will be accepted.” (ibid.; Engberg 2009; own translation). The same
would apply for the legislation as well, insofar the multilingual formulation of norm
texts promotes their accuracy:
Multilingual law has all opportunities to be clearer, more comprehensible law. Poor is a com-
munity that does not know how to use this. Does the European Union know it? (Nussbaumer
2007: 40; own translation).
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Chapter Title: Legal Linguistics in Germany. History, Working Groups, Concepts

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

By Friedemann Vogel, Siegen

I. The linguistic constitution of society and law

II. To the professionalization of research, teaching and practice

1. Research interests and objectives of legal linguistics

The German legal linguistics as a university discipline, beyond the lexicographic

language), sociolinguistics (language policy, linguistic human rights), language

2. Issues of legal linguistics professionalization

a) Interdisciplinary working groups on language and law

The Darmstadt group “Analysis of the juridical language” (“Analyse Darmstädt-

b) Milestones of publications and resources in German Legal Linguistics

Traces of the increasing profiling of an academic legal linguistic are especially to

acquisition of multilingual competences. With an eye towards the prospective occu-

d) Legal linguists in the context of legislation

Subsequent to the pilot project Comprehensible laws (Verständliche Gesetze

III. Established working areas

The essential, established working areas of German-language legal linguistics are

1. Terminology, general language and

2. Legal semantics: legal work as textual work

user.” (criticized by Christensen / Kudlich 2002: 239 f., Christensen / Jeand’Heur

IV. Pending issues and new research fields

1. Digitization of the law

The implementation and continuous increase of computer-based work processes

2. Computer-assisted methods to explore legal semantics

Attempts to calculate legal meaning or even decisions in court automatically with

system (judiciary, legislature, executive, jurisprudence) into account, was established

3. Legislation and norm-genesis

4. Multilingualism in the supranational legal sphere

Nothdurft, Werner (1997): Konfliktstoff. Gesprächsanalyse der Konfliktbearbeitung in Schlich-

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