Université de Montréal - Thèse sous forme numérique

11Translation:Legal discourse is interesting for text linguistics and translation because it isoften characterized as a stylistically opaque discourse that is codified for and bylegal experts at the same time that it targets non-expert speakers. [...] From thelinguistic point of view, one of the most interesting aspects of legal discourse isthe proximity of the lexicon to the general lexicon of the language. Commonwords like claim, complaint, sentence, regulation, acquire in legal discourse aspecific meaning as well as a pragmatic value due to the legal effects orconsequences that they can have. It may seem paradoxical, but it is precisely bymeans of this closeness to the common lexicon together with the use of fixedand complex structures that legal discourse obtains the stylistic opacity to whichwe referred.Gémar (1991) gives an interesting example of the seemingly banality of certainterms that appear in legal texts: the English term information when put in the context ofthe article 785 of the Criminal Code of Canada does not mean a ―piece of information‖but ―denunciation‖.2.1.1.2. Law and cultureIf law has an intimate relationship with language, this means that the ―legal language‖used in one linguistic community may differ from the ―legal language‖ used in adifferent one. Legal language is, therefore, said to be culture-bound. Even though theabstract concept of law may be universal, legal language itself is not universal becausedifferent countries can have different legal systems with different institutions,procedures, etc., due to their varying legal histories. As Šarčević puts it: ―Each countryhas its own legal language representing the social reality of its specific legal order‖(1985: 127).Taking Gémar‘s example (2008: 329), although one easily understands themeaning of the terms Rule of Law and État de droit, these terms refer to differentnational traditions and therefore need to be understood in the light of the culture inwhich they are used. The French term necessarily means something different depending