Vagueness and Law

Vagueness and Law PDF Author: Geert Keil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198782888
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Vague expressions are omnipresent in natural language. As such, their use in legal texts is virtually inevitable. If a law contains vague terms, the question whether it applies to a particular case often lacks a clear answer. One of the fundamental pillars of the rule of law is legal certainty. The determinacy of the law enables people to use it as a guide and places judges in the position to decide impartially. Vagueness poses a threat to these ideals. In borderline cases, the law seems to be indeterminate and thus incapable of serving its core rule of law value. In the philosophy of language, vagueness has become one of the hottest topics of the last two decades. Linguists and philosophers have investigated what distinguishes "soritical" vagueness from other kinds of linguistic indeterminacy, such as ambiguity, generality, open texture, and family resemblance concepts. There is a vast literature that discusses the logical, semantic, pragmatic, and epistemic aspects of these phenomena. Legal theory has hitherto paid little attention to the differences between the various kinds of linguistic indeterminacy that are grouped under the heading of "vagueness", let alone to the various theories that try to account for these phenomena. Bringing together leading scholars working on the topic of vagueness in philosophy and in law, this book fosters a dialogue between philosophers and legal scholars by examining how philosophers conceive vagueness in law from their theoretical perspective and how legal theorists make use of philosophical theories of vagueness. The chapters of the book are organized into three parts. The first part addresses the import of different theories of vagueness for the law, referring to a wide range of theories from supervaluationist to contextualist and semantic realist accounts in order to address the question of whether the law can learn from engaging with philosophical discussions of vagueness. The second part of the book examines different vagueness phenomena. The contributions in part 2 suggest that the greater awareness to different vagueness phenomena can make lawyers aware of specific issues and solutions so far overlooked. The third part deals with the pragmatic aspects of vagueness in law, providing answers to the question of how to deal with vagueness in law and with the professional, political, moral, and ethical issues such vagueness gives rise to.

Vagueness and Law

Vagueness and Law PDF Author: Geert Keil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198782888
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
Vague expressions are omnipresent in natural language. As such, their use in legal texts is virtually inevitable. If a law contains vague terms, the question whether it applies to a particular case often lacks a clear answer. One of the fundamental pillars of the rule of law is legal certainty. The determinacy of the law enables people to use it as a guide and places judges in the position to decide impartially. Vagueness poses a threat to these ideals. In borderline cases, the law seems to be indeterminate and thus incapable of serving its core rule of law value. In the philosophy of language, vagueness has become one of the hottest topics of the last two decades. Linguists and philosophers have investigated what distinguishes "soritical" vagueness from other kinds of linguistic indeterminacy, such as ambiguity, generality, open texture, and family resemblance concepts. There is a vast literature that discusses the logical, semantic, pragmatic, and epistemic aspects of these phenomena. Legal theory has hitherto paid little attention to the differences between the various kinds of linguistic indeterminacy that are grouped under the heading of "vagueness", let alone to the various theories that try to account for these phenomena. Bringing together leading scholars working on the topic of vagueness in philosophy and in law, this book fosters a dialogue between philosophers and legal scholars by examining how philosophers conceive vagueness in law from their theoretical perspective and how legal theorists make use of philosophical theories of vagueness. The chapters of the book are organized into three parts. The first part addresses the import of different theories of vagueness for the law, referring to a wide range of theories from supervaluationist to contextualist and semantic realist accounts in order to address the question of whether the law can learn from engaging with philosophical discussions of vagueness. The second part of the book examines different vagueness phenomena. The contributions in part 2 suggest that the greater awareness to different vagueness phenomena can make lawyers aware of specific issues and solutions so far overlooked. The third part deals with the pragmatic aspects of vagueness in law, providing answers to the question of how to deal with vagueness in law and with the professional, political, moral, and ethical issues such vagueness gives rise to.

The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law

The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law PDF Author: Hrafn Asgeirsson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509904441
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Lawmaking is – paradigmatically – a type of speech act: people make law by saying things. It is natural to think, therefore, that the content of the law is determined by what lawmakers communicate. However, what they communicate is sometimes vague and, even when it is clear, the content itself is sometimes vague. This monograph examines the nature and consequences of these two linguistic sources of indeterminacy in the law. The aim is to give plausible answers to three related questions: In virtue of what is the law vague? What might be good about vague law? How should courts resolve cases of vagueness? It argues that vagueness in the law is sometimes a good thing, although its value should not be overestimated. It also proposes a strategy for resolving borderline cases, arguing that textualism and intentionalism – two leading theories of legal interpretation – often complement rather than compete with each other.

Vagueness in Law

Vagueness in Law PDF Author: Timothy Andrew Orville Endicott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description


The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law

The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law PDF Author: Hrafn Asgeirsson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 150990445X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Lawmaking is – paradigmatically – a type of speech act: people make law by saying things. It is natural to think, therefore, that the content of the law is determined by what lawmakers communicate. However, what they communicate is sometimes vague and, even when it is clear, the content itself is sometimes vague. This monograph examines the nature and consequences of these two linguistic sources of indeterminacy in the law. The aim is to give plausible answers to three related questions: In virtue of what is the law vague? What might be good about vague law? How should courts resolve cases of vagueness? It argues that vagueness in the law is sometimes a good thing, although its value should not be overestimated. It also proposes a strategy for resolving borderline cases, arguing that textualism and intentionalism – two leading theories of legal interpretation – often complement rather than compete with each other.

Vagueness

Vagueness PDF Author: Kit Fine
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0197514952
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description
"The book is about the problem of vagueness. It begins by discussing some of the existing views on vagueness and then explains why they have not been thought to be satisfactory. It then outlines a new account of vagueness, based upon the general idea that vagueness is a global rather than a local phenomenon.. In other words, the vagueness of an expression or object is not an intrinsic feature of the object or an expression but a matter of how it relates to other objects and expression. The development of this idea leads to a new semantics and logic for vagueness. The semantics and logic are then applied to a number of issues, including the sorites paradox, the transparency of mental states, and personal identity. It is shown that the view allows one to hew to a much more intuitive position on these various issues"--

Limiting Arbitrary Power

Limiting Arbitrary Power PDF Author: Marc Ribeiro
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 9780774810517
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Under the emerging void-for-vagueness doctrine, a law lacking precision can be declared invalid. In this, the first book published on the subject, Marc Ribeiro offers a balanced analysis of this doctrine and its application in the context of the Canadian constitution. Taking as its starting point a cogent analysis of the fundamental concepts of "legality" and the "rule of law," Limiting Arbitrary Power undertakes a specific study of the contents of the vagueness doctrine. Dr. Ribeiro presents an in-depth exploration of the courts' current approach, and suggests how it may be refined in the future. In that regard, he proposes techniques for legislative drafting in which certainty could be enhanced without compromising the flexibility required in law. Acknowledging that to date, the doctrine has yet to be granted an autonomous status for invalidating legislation, he also examines in detail the possible situations in which vagueness may become applicable under the Charter. An important addition to Canadian law libraries, Limiting Arbitrary Power will be eagerly received by legal professionals, legislators, and scholars of constitutional law and legal theory.

Vagueness in Normative Texts

Vagueness in Normative Texts PDF Author: Vijay K. Bhatia
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039106530
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : de
Pages : 484

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Book Description
Normative texts are meant to be highly impersonal and decontextualised, yet at the same time they also deal with a range of human behaviour that is difficult to predict, which means they have to have a very high degree of determinacy on the one hand, and all-inclusiveness on the other. This poses a dilemma for the writer and interpreter of normative texts. The author of such texts must be determinate and vague at the same time, depending upon to what extent he or she can predict every conceivable contingency that may arise in the application of what he or she writes. The papers in this volume discuss important legal and linguistic aspects relating to the use of vagueness in legal drafting and demonstrate why such aspects are critical to our understanding of the way normative texts function.

Vagueness in Psychiatry

Vagueness in Psychiatry PDF Author: Geert Keil
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198722370
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Blurred boundaries between the normal and the pathological are a recurrent theme in almost every publication concerned with the classification of mental disorders. Yet, systematic approaches that take into account discussions about vagueness are rare. This volume is the first in the psychiatry/philosophy literature to tackle this problem.

Vagueness

Vagueness PDF Author: Timothy Williamson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134770189
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
If you keep removing single grains of sand from a heap, when is it no longer a heap? From discussions of the heap paradox in classical Greece, to modern formal approaches like fuzzy logic, Timothy Williamson traces the history of the problem of vagueness. He argues that standard logic and formal semantics apply even to vague languages and defends the controversial, realist view that vagueness is a form of ignorance - there really is a grain of sand whose removal turns a heap into a non-heap, but we can never know exactly which one it is.

The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law

The Nature and Value of Vagueness in the Law PDF Author: Hrafn Ásgeirsson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781474202756
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
1. Authority, Communication and Legal Content -- 2. On the Instrumental Value of Vagueness in the Law -- 3. Vagueness and Power Delegation in Law -- 4. Vagueness, Uncertainty and Behaviour -- 5. On the Possibility of Non-literal Legislative Speech -- 6. Textualism, Content and Interpretation -- 7. Resolving Cases of Vagueness -- 8. Legal Practice and Theories of Vagueness.