Language and Law, Course Schedule
Semester One
- Week 1
- Language in the law: an overview of the course, and notes on the judicial and criminal justice system.
- Week 2
- The police caution
- Week 3
- Visit to Birmingham Crown Court. [probably arriving at the courts around 1:30, t.b.c.]
The language of the courtroom I: lawyer-witness interaction (what lawyers have witnesses say).
- Week 4
- The language of the courtroom II: judicial discourse (jury instructions)
- Week 5
- The language of the courtroom III: expert vs lay discourse
- Week 6
- Temporary restraining orders
- Week 7
- Witness statements and police interviews
- Week 8
- Plagiarism and authorship disputes
- Week 9
- Authentic and forged letters
- Week 10
- The language of the courtroom IV: Barristersâ opening and closing speeches (metaphors and narrative effects)
Readings:
Cotterill J (1998) 'If it doesn't fit you must acquit': metaphor and the OJ Simpson criminal trial', Forensic Linguistics, 5 ii, 141-58; Eades D (1994) 'A case of communicative clash: Aboriginal English and the legal system', in Gibbons (ed) Language and the Law, 234-64
The semester 1 assignment (50% of grade) will be set in late November, and is due in on the applicable deadline given in the departmental Handbook.
Semester Two
- Week 1
- Who is my neighbour? Liability to 'neighbours'.
Reading: Donoghue v Stevenson and the contaminated ginger beer: Lord Atkin's ruling (abridged in CP. also included a note on the Fairchild asbestos case).
- Week 2
- Monologue and dialogue in statements taken from defendants.
Reading: Coulthard, 'Whose voice is it? Invented and Concealed Dialogue in written records of verbal evidence produced by the police.' In Cotterill, ed., Language in the Legal Process, 19-34. in CP
- Week 3
- What is provocation?
Readings: Notes on Provocation in CP.
Threadgold, Narrative and legal texts: telling stories about women who kill, The UTS Review, 3:1, 1997, 56-73. in CP
fyi (not required Reading): R v Thornton [1992] 1 All ER 306. (first case)
R v Ahluwalia [1992] 4 All ER 889.
- Week 4
- The language of the courtroom IV: Barristers' opening and closing statements: metaphors and narrative effects.
Readings: Cotterill J (1998) 'If it doesn't fit you must acquit: metaphor and the OJ Simpson criminal trial', Forensic Linguistics, 5 ii, 141-58.
- Week 5
- Witness speaking styles: powerful vs. powerless language?
Reading: Joanna Kerr Thompson. 2002 'Powerful/powerless language in court: a critical re-evaluation of the Duke Language and Law programme'. Forensic Linguistics, 9: 2, 153-177.
- Week 6
- Determining the authorship of a literary text. (Munro, Atwood, Updike, Beattie·)
No Reading for this seminar.
- Week 7
- Is a language right a human right?
Readings: Stephen May, Language and Minority Rights (Longman, 2001); and T. Skutnabb-Kangas extract, both in CP.
- Week 8
- What counts as an ethnic group? Race, Ethnic Group, Mandla and Dawson.
www.hrcr.org/safrica/equality/Mandla_DowellLee.htm
Reading: P. Bayley, (1997). 'Language and the law: arguments about ethnicity'.
G.E. Bussi, M. Bondi, F. Gatta, Understanding Arguments: la logica informale del discorso, Bologna: CLUEB, pp. 89-103. in CP
- Week 9
- What is appropriation in crimes of theft?
Readings: My Note on The conflict of interpretations in theft cases: appropriation and dishonesty. In CP
Cases worth consulting: R v Gomez, R v Hinks, including Lord Lowry's dissenting opinion in Gomez;
- Week 10
- Defamation, freedom of expression, obscenity, and hate speech. Berkoff v Burchill, and Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Readings: Gibbons, chapters 8: Law on language (language crimes - threats, obscenity, defamation)
Notes on Defamation in CP.
The three faces of defamation: sword, shield, and nice little earner.
The semester II assignment (50% of grade) will be set at the beginning of March, and is due in before 12:30 on Friday 30 April; your essay should conform to the departmental stylesheet in the online Handbook.
Most readings for the course are in the semester II Course Packet, available from the Humanities Office.