Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Legal realism is a powerful jurisprudential tradition which urges attention to sodal conditions and predicts their influence in the legal process. The rela- tively recent "sodal sdence in the law" phenomenon, in which sodal research is increasingly relied on to dedde court cases is a direct result of realistic jurisprudence, which accords much significance in law to empirical reports about sodal behavior. The empirical research used by courts has not, how- ever, commonly dealt with language as an influential variable. This volume of essays, coedited by Judith N. Levi and Anne Graffam Walker, will likely change that situation. Language in the Judicial Process is a superb collection of original work which fits weIl into the realist tradition, and by focusing on language as a key variable, it establishes a new and provocative perspective on the legal process. The perspective it offers, and the data it presents, make this volume a valuable source of information both for judges and lawyers, who may be chiefly concemed with practice, and for legal scholars and sodal sdentists who do basic research about law.
Table of Contents
The study of language in the judicial process / Judith N. Levi -- Strategies in the contest between lawyer and witness in cross-examination / Paul Drew --Narratives and narrative structure in plea bargaining /Douglas W. Maynard -- Litigant satisifaction versus legal adequacy in small claims court narratives /William M. O'Barr and John M. Conley -- Legal realism in lawyer-client communication / Austin Sarat and William L.F. Felstiner -- Bilingual court proceedings : the role of the court interpreter / Susan Berk-Seligson -- Language at work in the law : the customs, conventions, and appellate consequences of court reporting / Anne Graffam Walker -- Linguistic analysis of conversation as evidence regarding the interpretation of speech events / Georgia M. Green --On the use of social conversation as evidence in a court of law / Ellen F. Prince -- Language and congnition in products liability / Michael G. Johnson -- Adequacy of cigarette package warnings / Bethany K. Dumas -- Epilogue--Where do we go from here? / Anne Graffam Walker.