The influence of legal tradition on Italian arbitration discourse
-
Maurizio Gotti
Abstract
In the last few decades, arbitration has been increasingly adopted in trade and commerce to resolve conflicts. As this method of settling commercial disputes is commonly considered an efficient, economical and effective alternative to litigation, the language used in arbitration documents is usually deemed to differ from that of litigation texts. However, in recent years there has been a narrowing between the two practices, as litigation processes and procedures have increasingly been seen to influence arbitration practices. In view of these considerations, the paper investigates the nature and the extent of the “colonization” of commercial arbitration discourse by litigation language in the Italian context, and explores the motivations for such an interdiscursive process. To better understand how and to what extent language forms/functions correlate to the “colonization” of arbitration discourse, the paper focuses on the lexico-semantic elements of the Italian arbitration texts examined here and on the linguistic expression of their rhetorical-pragmatic strategies. In particular, it examines whether key linguistic features of Italian legal language are also present in the texts taken into consideration. The analysis is based on the recording of recent Italian arbitral proceedings as well as awards of commercial arbitration cases, and also examines documents used in Online Dispute Resolution, a field which is supposed to be more user-friendly and accessible to laymen wishing for clear resolutions to resolve their disputes. Relying on the analysis of the texts, the chapter shows the presence of the main lexical, syntactic and textual patterns typical of Italian legal language. The presence of these features can be explained not only by the legal background of many of the arbitrators but also by a process of standardization which seems to condition also the non-legal experts working in this field.
References
Atkinson, J. Maxwell & Paul Drew. 1979. Order in court: The organization of verbal interaction in judicial settings. London: Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-349-04057-5Search in Google Scholar
Barbieri, Giorgio. 2007. Il nuovo diritto dell’arbitrato. Padova: Cedam.Search in Google Scholar
Berger, Klaus Peter. 2006. Private dispute resolution in international business: Negotiation, mediation, arbitration. The Hague: Kluwer Law.Search in Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay. 1993. Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay, Christopher Candlin & Jan Engberg (eds.). 2008. Legal discourse across cultures and systems. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.10.5790/hongkong/9789622098510.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay, Christopher Candlin & Maurizio Gotti (eds.). 2003. Legal discourse in multilingual and multicultural contexts: Arbitration texts in Europe. Bern: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay, Christopher Candlin & Maurizio Gotti (eds.). 2010. The discourses of dispute resolution. Bern: Peter Lang.10.3726/978-3-0351-0119-5Search in Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay, Christopher Candlin & Maurizio Gotti (eds.). 2012. Discourse and practice in international commercial arbitration. Farnham: Ashgate.Search in Google Scholar
Block, Richard N. & Jack Stieber. 1987 The impact of attorneys and arbitrators on arbitration awards. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 40(4). 543‒555.10.1177/001979398704000407Search in Google Scholar
Bordone, Robert C. 1998. Electronic online dispute resolution: A systems approach – potential problems and a proposal. Harvard Negotiation Law Review 175(3). 190‒191.Search in Google Scholar
Cavagnoli, Stefania & Elena Ioriatti Ferrari. 2009. Tradurre il diritto. Nozioni di diritto e di linguistica giuridica. Milano: CEDAM.Search in Google Scholar
Cortelazzo, Michele A. 2006. Fenomenologia dei tecnicismi collaterali: Il settore giuridico. In Emanuela Cresti (ed.), Prospettive nello studio del lessico italiano, vol. 1, 137‒140. Firenze: Firenze University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Crystal, David & Derek Davy. 1969. Investigating English style. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Cutolo, Daniele & Antonio Esposito. 2007. The reform of the Italian arbitration law: The challenging of arbitrators and the setting of time limits. Journal of International Arbitration 24(1). 49‒62.10.54648/JOIA2007006Search in Google Scholar
Dardano, Maurizio. 1994. Profilo dell’italiano contemporaneo. In Luca Serianni & Pietro Trifone (eds.), Storia della lingua italiana, vol. 2, 343‒430. Torino: Einaudi.Search in Google Scholar
Davis, Benjamin G. (ed.). 2006. Symposium on enhancing worldwide understanding through online dispute resolution. University of Toledo Law Review 38(1). 1‒10.Search in Google Scholar
Fiorelli, Piero. 1998. L’italiano giuridico dal latinismo al tecnicismo. In Ilario Domenighetti (ed.), Con felice esattezza. Economia e diritto fra lingua e letteratura, 139‒183. Bellinzona: Casagrande.Search in Google Scholar
Flood, John & Andrew Caiger. 1993. Lawyers and arbitration: The juridification of construction disputes. Modern Law Review 56(3). 412‒440.10.1111/j.1468-2230.1993.tb02681.xSearch in Google Scholar
Gibbons, John. 1994. Language and the law. Harlow: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Goodrich, Peter. 1988. Modalities of annunciation: An introduction to courtroom speech. In Roberta Kevelson (ed.), Law and semiotics, vol. 2, 143‒165. New York: Plenum Press.10.1007/978-1-4613-0771-6_9Search in Google Scholar
Gotti, Maurizio. 2011. Investigating specialized discourse. Bern: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Hattotuwa, Sanjana. 2006. Transforming landscapes: Forging new ODR systems with a human face. Conflict Resolution Quarterly 23(3). 371‒382.10.1002/crq.144Search in Google Scholar
Hiltunen, Risto. 1990. Chapters on legal English: Aspects past and present of the language of the law. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.Search in Google Scholar
Kurzon, Dennis. 1986. It is hereby performed … : Explorations in legal speech acts. Amsterdam: Benjamins.10.1075/pb.vii.6Search in Google Scholar
Maci, Stefania. 2010. The modus operandi of litigation in arbitration. In Vijay K. Bhatia, Christopher N. Candlin & Maurizio Gotti (eds.), The discourses of dispute resolution, 69‒83. Bern: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Mortara Garavelli, Bice. 2001. Le parole e la giustizia. Torino: Einaudi.Search in Google Scholar
Nariman, Fali S. 2000. The spirit of arbitration. Arbitration International 16(3). 261‒278.10.1023/A:1008987003045Search in Google Scholar
Rovere, Giovanni. 2002. L’articolo zero nel linguaggio giuridico. In Gian Luigi Beccaria & Carla Marello (eds.), La parola al testo, vol. 1, 387‒404, Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.Search in Google Scholar
Sala, Michele. 2010. Arguing the case: Discoursal aspects of Italian commercial arbitration. In Vijay K. Bhatia, Christopher N. Candlin & Maurizio Gotti (eds.), The discourses of dispute resolution, 165‒188. Bern: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
Sali, Rinaldo. 2003. RisolviOnline experience: A new ODR approach for consumers and companies. Proceedings of the UNECE Forum on ODR 2003.Search in Google Scholar
Solan, Lawrence M. 1993. The language of judges. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226767895.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Tiersma, Peter M. 1999. Legal language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar
Tobias, Paul H. 1960. In defense of creeping legalism in arbitration. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 13(4). 596‒607.10.1177/001979396001300408Search in Google Scholar
Williams, Christopher. 2007. Tradition and change in legal English. Bern: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- La sémiotique juridique verbale et nonverbale comme stratégie de communication du droit: Signs, symbols, and meanings in law
- “Verbal and nonverbal” in semiotics
- The frowning balance: Semiotic insinuations on the visual rhetoric of justice
- Semiotics of visual evidence in law
- Observing laws through “understanding eyes”
- Interpreting law in socio-pragmatic space
- Conceptualizing cultural discrepancies in legal translation: A case-based study
- The first integrated practice of legal translation in modern China: A study of the Chinese translation of Elements of International Law, 1864
- Translations of early Sino-British treaties and the masked western legal concepts
- “Susanna and the Elders”: On the visual semiotic of shame
- Angels, warriors, and beacons: Totemic law, territorial coding, and monumental sculpture in post-industrial landscapes
- Expiration dates: Performative illusions of law and regulation
- From immunity to immunity. From immunity to silence: The case of Gilad Sharon
- Under western eyes: Articulation between indigenous justice and the national judicial system
- Police interpreting: The facts sheet
- The influence of legal tradition on Italian arbitration discourse
- Weighing and balancing of principles in cases with rule paradoxes
- “You have to teach the judge what to do”: Semiotic gaps between unrepresented litigants and the common law
- The semiotic interpretation of legal subjects in China’s new criminal procedure law
- Mission impossible? Judges’ playing of dual roles as adjudicator and mediator in Chinese court conciliation
- “Is it the case that … ?”: Building toward findings of fact in Japanese criminal trials
- Institutional interaction in traffic law enforcement in China: Resistance and obedience
- Duppying yoots in a dog eat dog world, kmt: Determining the senses of slang terms for the Courts
- Les structures sémantiques profondes du code pénal chinois
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- La sémiotique juridique verbale et nonverbale comme stratégie de communication du droit: Signs, symbols, and meanings in law
- “Verbal and nonverbal” in semiotics
- The frowning balance: Semiotic insinuations on the visual rhetoric of justice
- Semiotics of visual evidence in law
- Observing laws through “understanding eyes”
- Interpreting law in socio-pragmatic space
- Conceptualizing cultural discrepancies in legal translation: A case-based study
- The first integrated practice of legal translation in modern China: A study of the Chinese translation of Elements of International Law, 1864
- Translations of early Sino-British treaties and the masked western legal concepts
- “Susanna and the Elders”: On the visual semiotic of shame
- Angels, warriors, and beacons: Totemic law, territorial coding, and monumental sculpture in post-industrial landscapes
- Expiration dates: Performative illusions of law and regulation
- From immunity to immunity. From immunity to silence: The case of Gilad Sharon
- Under western eyes: Articulation between indigenous justice and the national judicial system
- Police interpreting: The facts sheet
- The influence of legal tradition on Italian arbitration discourse
- Weighing and balancing of principles in cases with rule paradoxes
- “You have to teach the judge what to do”: Semiotic gaps between unrepresented litigants and the common law
- The semiotic interpretation of legal subjects in China’s new criminal procedure law
- Mission impossible? Judges’ playing of dual roles as adjudicator and mediator in Chinese court conciliation
- “Is it the case that … ?”: Building toward findings of fact in Japanese criminal trials
- Institutional interaction in traffic law enforcement in China: Resistance and obedience
- Duppying yoots in a dog eat dog world, kmt: Determining the senses of slang terms for the Courts
- Les structures sémantiques profondes du code pénal chinois
