Shallow Equality and Symbolic Jurisprudence: A Commentary on Legal Multilingualism in the World Today

Abstract

About 40% of sovereign states are officially bilingual or multilingual. Add to that supranational polities and international organisations, and sub-state jurisdictions that operate in two or more languages, it is notable that in the contemporary world, law is frequently a multilingual enterprise. Drawing from my book Shallow Equality and Symbolic Jurisprudence in Multilingual Legal Orders (OUP 2018), I offer a characterisation of these jurisdictions. Linguistic equality is emphasised in countries such as Canada and in supranational polities such as the European Union. This kind of equality however needs to be distinguished from the kind of equality advocated for in human rights discourse and natural justice theories. Linguistic equality in multilingual jurisdictions is based on a politics of difference, which is the counter thesis of egalitarianism. I call this kind of equality shallow equality. The second concept, symbolic jurisprudence, presents an understanding of how legal multilingualism works. I contend that official language law is usually vaguely drafted and works chiefly through its signification. The symbolic capital that may be derived from a legally conferred official language status could then be translated into other forms of capital. In sum, the paper draws attention to the political economy underlying the language(s) of the law, pinpointing modern ethics and politics that provide the condition for the contemporary phenomenon of legal multilingualism.