Contribution to Book
Legal Language in Nineteenth-Century America
The Ashgate Research Companion to Law and Humanities in Nineteenth-Century America
(2015)
Abstract
This contribution explores the development of legal language in nineteenth-century America as a species of political discourse. In particular, I sketch the broad, competing trends in legal language. On the one hand, legal rhetoric became more popular and fragmented, as the sources of law multiplied. On the other hand, the law also became increasingly sophisticated and specialized with the rise of institutions. These features on the surface of legal rhetoric hinted at deeper changes in the imperatives of political development and efforts at cultural resistance.
Keywords
- humanities,
- legal language,
- law and literature,
- law,
- legal history,
- politics,
- slavery,
- perfectionism,
- utopia,
- abolition,
- rhetoric,
- property,
- pioneer,
- sex equality
Disciplines
- African American Studies,
- American Literature,
- American Politics,
- American Popular Culture,
- Civil Rights and Discrimination,
- Constitutional Law,
- Courts,
- Fourteenth Amendment,
- Jurisprudence,
- Law and Gender,
- Law and Philosophy,
- Law and Politics,
- Law and Society,
- Legal,
- Legal Theory,
- Indigenous Studies,
- Political History,
- Political Theory,
- Public Law and Legal Theory and
- Rhetoric
Publication Date
2015
Editor
Nan Goodman & Simon Stern
Publisher
Ashgate
Citation Information
Robert L Tsai. "Legal Language in Nineteenth-Century America" The Ashgate Research Companion to Law and Humanities in Nineteenth-Century America (2015) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_tsai/24/