Article by Celia Wasserstein Fassberg
This Article examines problems relating to language in a mixed legal system. It suggests, first, that the mixed nature of a legal system does not, in and of itself, create a special problem of language, namely one that is different from the usual problem of the relationship between spoken language and professional language. It then distinguishes between mixed systems existing in multilingual societies whose languages correspond to the mixed legal sources and mixed systems existing in unilingual or multilingual societies in which the legal language is different from that of any of the source languages of the system.
Israel is an example of the latter; it is a mixed system whose legal language does not correspond with either of its primary historic sources. The Article describes how it emerged in this form. It then proceeds to examine the relationship, in Israeli law, between types of sources and styles of legal thought, expression, and rhetoric. This examination reveals, among other things, that many of the characteristics of a legal system are the product of circumstance rather than design, and that random mixing of elements from different systems can produce unique and unforeseen consequences.
About the Author
Celia Wasserstein Fassberg. Judge Harry M. Fisher Professor of Private International and Interreligious Law; Director, Harry and Michael Sacher Institute of Legislative Research and Comparative Law; Faculty of Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Citation
78 Tul. L. Rev. 151 (2003)