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The silent witness: Pragmatic and literal interpretations

Abstract

The Israeli Supreme Court has changed its decisions several times concerning the evidence of the silent witness in criminal cases, focusing on the interpretation of section 10a of the 1971 Evidence Ordinance – whether or not to admit as testimony what the witness has told the police if the witness is silent on the stand. The article will analyze the judicial opinions of the majority and minority sides of the bench in the 1991 Haj Yehia case. The majority opinion, which decided to accept such out-of-court evidence, may be considered to be pragmatic: meaning derives both from the words and from the purpose of the text. The approach of the minority derives from a more literal interpretation of the law.

Abstract

The Israeli Supreme Court has changed its decisions several times concerning the evidence of the silent witness in criminal cases, focusing on the interpretation of section 10a of the 1971 Evidence Ordinance – whether or not to admit as testimony what the witness has told the police if the witness is silent on the stand. The article will analyze the judicial opinions of the majority and minority sides of the bench in the 1991 Haj Yehia case. The majority opinion, which decided to accept such out-of-court evidence, may be considered to be pragmatic: meaning derives both from the words and from the purpose of the text. The approach of the minority derives from a more literal interpretation of the law.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The language of the law
  5. The nature of legal language 7
  6. Language education for law professionals 27
  7. The language and communication of jury instruction 47
  8. Policespeak 67
  9. Legal translation 95
  10. Part II. The language of the court
  11. Questioning in common law criminal courts 115
  12. Bilingual courtrooms: In the interests of justice? 131
  13. The silent witness: Pragmatic and literal interpretations 161
  14. Language and disadvantage before the law 179
  15. Interpreting for the minority 197
  16. Part III. Forensic linguistic evidence
  17. Approaching questions in forensic authorship analysis 215
  18. Trademarks and other proprietary terms 231
  19. Deception and fraud 249
  20. Plagiarism 265
  21. Contributors 301
  22. Language index 307
  23. Subject index 309
Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics
This chapter is in the book Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.5.11kur

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. The language of the law
  5. The nature of legal language 7
  6. Language education for law professionals 27
  7. The language and communication of jury instruction 47
  8. Policespeak 67
  9. Legal translation 95
  10. Part II. The language of the court
  11. Questioning in common law criminal courts 115
  12. Bilingual courtrooms: In the interests of justice? 131
  13. The silent witness: Pragmatic and literal interpretations 161
  14. Language and disadvantage before the law 179
  15. Interpreting for the minority 197
  16. Part III. Forensic linguistic evidence
  17. Approaching questions in forensic authorship analysis 215
  18. Trademarks and other proprietary terms 231
  19. Deception and fraud 249
  20. Plagiarism 265
  21. Contributors 301
  22. Language index 307
  23. Subject index 309
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