Semiotics of International Law: Trade and Translation

Description

Language carries more than meanings; language conveys a means of conceiving the world. In this sense, national legal systems expressed through national languages organize the Law based on their own understanding of reality. International Law becomes, in this context, the meeting point where different legal cultures and different views of world intersect. The diversity of languages and legal systems can enrich the possibilities of understanding and developing international law, but it can also represent an instability and unsafety factor to the international scenario. This multilegal-system and multilingual scenario adds to the complexity of international law and poses new challenges. One of them is legal translation, which is a field of knowledge and professional skill that has not been the subject of theoretical thinking on the part of legal scholars. How to negotiate, draft or interpret an international treaty that mirrors what the parties, – who belong to different legal cultures and who, on many occasions, speak different mother tongues – , want or wanted to say? By analyzing the decision-making process and the legal discourse adopted by the WTO’s Appellate Body, this book highlights the active role of language in diplomatic negotiations and in interpreting international law. In addition, it also shows that the debate on the effectiveness and legitimacy of International Law cannot be separated from the linguistic issue. “Studies as Evandro Menezes de Carvalho’s are essential to those who wish to work in the field of International Trade Law, not only because they can be directly applied to a semiotic analysis of the reports of the Appellate Body, but also because of how much they represent as a method of research and thought within the other areas of International Trade Law. For this reason, I highly recommend this book as a necessary tool to those working in International Trade Law.” Luiz Olavo BaptistaFormer member of the WTO Appellate Body (2001-2009) Front Matter....Pages i-xxxi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Culture and Legal Culture: A Semiotic Approach....Pages 3-12 Legal Culture as a System of Signification....Pages 13-22 Legal Culture as Communication....Pages 23-33 Front Matter....Pages 35-35 Diplomatic Discourse....Pages 37-56 Legal-Diplomatic Discourse....Pages 57-82 The Power of Legal-Diplomatic Discourse....Pages 83-102 Back Matter....Pages 103-103 Front Matter....Pages 105-106 From GATT to the WTO: Regulating International Trade....Pages 107-116 The WTO Dispute Settlement System and the Influence of the Decision-Making Instances of the Dispute Settlement Body....Pages 117-126 Front Matter....Pages 127-128 The Choice of Meaning in Discourse....Pages 129-144 The Authors of Legal-Diplomatic Discourse: Interpreters and Intentions....Pages 145-160 The Decision-Making Discourse of the Appellate Body: Treaties and Dictionaries as Referents....Pages 161-195 Back Matter....Pages 197-218