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Article: 'You have to teach the judge what to do': Semiotic gaps between unrepresented litigants and the common law

Title'You have to teach the judge what to do': Semiotic gaps between unrepresented litigants and the common law
Authors
KeywordsSigns
Legal-lay expectations of justice
Unrepresented litigants
Legal language
Courtroom discourse
Issue Date2017
PublisherWalter de Gruyter. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/semi?rskey=PjAZjG&result=322&q=
Citation
Semiotica, 2017, v. 2017 n. 216, p. 363-381 How to Cite?
AbstractThe courtroom can be seen as a semiotic space where the practice of signs is institutionalized. There are specific ways to perform signs in court, be they verbal (e. g., turn-taking) or nonverbal (e. g., attire). Legal signs communicate and signify differently than their non-legal counterparts. Laypeople may not be aware of such differences, and may encounter a gap between their expectation and the actual practice of legal signs. This is precisely the case for unrepresented litigants, laypeople who go to court without legal counsel, whose understanding and practice of signs usually differ from legal ones given their limited exposure to legal knowledge and culture. This paper examines unrepresented litigants’ lay practice of signs in Hong Kong courtrooms, and analyses how it clashes with that used by legal professionals. Our data consist of courtroom observations of 54 Cantonese case managements and 13 Cantonese trials in district courts in Hong Kong, 10 interviews with unrepresented litigants and 6 relevant judgments. The paper shows that the differences in the use of semiotics often place laypeople as out-group members of the law and may limit their access to justice. Our analysis will contribute to an understanding of laypeople’s behavior in the courtroom, which in turn bridges the communication gap between laypeople and legal professionals in common law jurisdictions.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/242848
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 0.9
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.277
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorYeung, MWL-
dc.contributor.authorLeung, JHC-
dc.date.accessioned2017-08-25T02:46:12Z-
dc.date.available2017-08-25T02:46:12Z-
dc.date.issued2017-
dc.identifier.citationSemiotica, 2017, v. 2017 n. 216, p. 363-381-
dc.identifier.issn0037-1998-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/242848-
dc.description.abstractThe courtroom can be seen as a semiotic space where the practice of signs is institutionalized. There are specific ways to perform signs in court, be they verbal (e. g., turn-taking) or nonverbal (e. g., attire). Legal signs communicate and signify differently than their non-legal counterparts. Laypeople may not be aware of such differences, and may encounter a gap between their expectation and the actual practice of legal signs. This is precisely the case for unrepresented litigants, laypeople who go to court without legal counsel, whose understanding and practice of signs usually differ from legal ones given their limited exposure to legal knowledge and culture. This paper examines unrepresented litigants’ lay practice of signs in Hong Kong courtrooms, and analyses how it clashes with that used by legal professionals. Our data consist of courtroom observations of 54 Cantonese case managements and 13 Cantonese trials in district courts in Hong Kong, 10 interviews with unrepresented litigants and 6 relevant judgments. The paper shows that the differences in the use of semiotics often place laypeople as out-group members of the law and may limit their access to justice. Our analysis will contribute to an understanding of laypeople’s behavior in the courtroom, which in turn bridges the communication gap between laypeople and legal professionals in common law jurisdictions.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherWalter de Gruyter. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/semi?rskey=PjAZjG&result=322&q=-
dc.relation.ispartofSemiotica-
dc.rights© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. The final publication is available at www.degruyter.com-
dc.subjectSigns-
dc.subjectLegal-lay expectations of justice-
dc.subjectUnrepresented litigants-
dc.subjectLegal language-
dc.subjectCourtroom discourse-
dc.title'You have to teach the judge what to do': Semiotic gaps between unrepresented litigants and the common law-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailLeung, JHC: hiuchi@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityLeung, JHC=rp01168-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.1515/sem-2015-0070-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85020471737-
dc.identifier.hkuros274018-
dc.identifier.volume2017-
dc.identifier.issue216-
dc.identifier.spage363-
dc.identifier.epage381-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000402335800018-
dc.publisher.placeGermany-
dc.identifier.issnl0037-1998-

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