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- Corpus linguistics; quantitative methods; legal interpretation (1)
- Dedication (1)
- Interpretation; linguistics; philosophy of language; statutory interpretation; corpus linguistics; Language and Law; Experimental Jurisprudence; Statutory Interpretation; Legal Interpretation; Empirical Jurisprudence (1)
- Law and Corpus Linguistics; Corpus Linguistics; Ordinary Meaning; Hypothesis Testing (1)
- Legal corpus linguistics; statutory interpretation; law and society; anthropology; linguistics (1)
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Law
Dedication, Robert E. Stengel
Dedication, Robert E. Stengel
Brooklyn Law Review
The Brooklyn Law Review dedicates this issue to our friend, colleague, and Executive Notes Editor, Rob Stengel. October 18, 1988–December 8, 2022
Corpus Linguistics And The Law: Extending The Field From A Statistical Perspective, Stefan Th. Gries
Corpus Linguistics And The Law: Extending The Field From A Statistical Perspective, Stefan Th. Gries
Brooklyn Law Review
During the last 5–10 years, corpus-linguistic applications have slowly become more widespread in matters of legal interpretation; specifically, we see more court cases in which corpus-linguistic data are brought to bear on the (original) ordinary/public meaning of expressions in legal texts (in briefs and judicial opinions), but also more academic research focusing on if/how corpus-linguistic methods can shed light on the plain/ordinary meaning of words in a legal text.While this development is welcome, it also comes with shortcoming/risks, some of which are now hotly debated in recent and forthcoming law review articles. In particular, there is a whole family of …
Big Data And Accuracy In Statutory Interpretation, Brian G. Slocum
Big Data And Accuracy In Statutory Interpretation, Brian G. Slocum
Brooklyn Law Review
Scholarship is increasingly devoted to improving the “accuracy” of statutory interpretations, but accuracy is a contingent concept dependent on interpretive perspective. If, for instance, a scholar focuses on the language production of the legislature, she may seek to improve the methodology of statutory interpretation through a more sophisticated understanding of the legislative process. Thus, the scholar may argue that one can assess the reliability of the different types of legislative history by focusing on the actors and processes that produce them. Conversely, a scholar might focus on the language comprehension of some speech community, such as the one comprised of …
Hypothesis Testing Ordinary Meaning, Daniel Keller, Jesse Egbert
Hypothesis Testing Ordinary Meaning, Daniel Keller, Jesse Egbert
Brooklyn Law Review
Corpus linguistic tools promise to make determinations of the ordinary meaning (OM) of a word or phrase in a statute more objective, replicable, and transparent. However, significant questions remain as to how corpora may best be employed in the process of determining OM. In this paper, we argue that objectivity, replicability, and transparency are bolstered when legal practitioners take a hypothesis testing approach to determining ordinary meaning. In this approach, the corpus (a large collection of authentic texts) is treated as a sample of data which the practitioner may use to draw inductive inferences about the meaning of the term …
What Counts As Data?, Anya Bernstein
What Counts As Data?, Anya Bernstein
Brooklyn Law Review
We live in an age of information. But whether information counts as data depends on the questions we put to it. The same bit of information can constitute important data for some questions, but be irrelevant to others. And even when relevant, the same bit of data can speak to one aspect of our question while having little to say about another. Knowing what counts as data, and what it is data of, makes or breaks a data-driven approach. Yet that need for clarity sometimes gets ignored or assumed away. In this essay, I examine what counts as data in …
Tagging The Lanham Act: Protecting Graffiti Art From Willful Infringement, Maribeth A. Smith
Tagging The Lanham Act: Protecting Graffiti Art From Willful Infringement, Maribeth A. Smith
Brooklyn Law Review
Graffiti has transformed over the last several decades from a sign of urban blight to a sign of artistic expression. As a result of this shift, clothing designers and other players in fashion have begun to use images of “street art” as part of their lines. This leaves graffiti artists with no way of protecting their art, especially because of the illegal nature of graffiti. This note examines current sources of law that can be used to protect artists from this infringement. Artists have unsuccessfully argued under both moral rights and copyright theories. However, copyright and moral rights analyses do …