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  • © 2013

Lawyers Making Meaning

The Semiotics of Law in Legal Education II

  • Bridges the theory and practices of law

  • Provides the basis of how to read, construct and apply modern law

  • Enhances and intensifies awareness of the semiotic dimensions in legal handiwork

  • Provides a structure for understanding and exploring the semiotic character of law and legal systems

  • Cultivates a deep understanding of the ways in which lawyers make meaning

  • Provides new insights into the sign-character of law and society

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages 1-1
  2. Face-to-Face with Legal Semiotics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
  3. FACE-TO-FACE WITH LEGAL SEMIOTICS

    1. Semiotics: A Fresh Start for Law

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 3-17
    2. Signs, and Signs in Law

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 19-32
  4. Godfathers of Semiotics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-34
  5. GODFATHERS OF SEMIOTICS

    1. Peirce and Legal Semiotics

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 35-52
    2. Lacan: The Semiotics of Law’s Voices

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 67-81
    3. Those Three Godfathers, After All

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 83-86
  6. Jurisprudence and Legal Semiotics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87
  7. JURISPRUDENCE AND LEGAL SEMIOTICS

    1. Legal Theory and Semiotics: On The Origins of Legal Semiotics

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 89-97
    2. Legal Theory and Semiotics: Semiotics, Theory and Practice of Law

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 99-125
    3. Legal Theory and Semiotics: The Legal Semiotics Critical Approach

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 127-134
    4. Politics, Semiotics and Law: Self and State

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 135-154
    5. Politics, Semiotics and Law: Person and Thing

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 155-180
    6. Structuralism and Legal Semiotics

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 181-191
  8. Doing and Saying Legal Semiotics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 193-193
  9. DOING AND SAYING LEGAL SEMIOTICS

    1. The Legal Semiotic Modus Operandi

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 195-201
    2. The Legal Semiotic Modus Operandi: Squares

      • Jan M. Broekman, Larry Catà Backer
      Pages 203-206

About this book

This book present a structure for understanding and exploring the semiotic character of law and law systems. Cultivating a deep understanding for the ways in which lawyers make meaning—the way in which they help make the world and are made, in turn by the world they create —can provide a basis for consciously engaging in the work of the law and in the production of meaning. The book first introduces the reader to the idea of semiotics in general and legal semiotics in particular, as well as to the major actors and shapers of the field, and to the heart of the matter: signs.  The second part studies the development of the strains of thinking that together now define semiotics, with attention being paid to the pragmatics, psychology and language of legal semiotics. A third part examines the link between legal theory and semiotics, the practice of law, the critical legal studies movement in the USA, the semiotics of politics and structuralism. The last part of the book ties the different strands of legal semiotics together, and closely looks at semiotics in the lawyer’s toolkit—such as: text, name and meaning. ​

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dickinson School of Law, Department of Law, Penn State University, Carlisle, USA

    Jan M. Broekman

  • Dickinson School of Law, Department Law, International Affairs, Penn State University, State College, USA

    Larry Catà Backer

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access