Legal Discourse Across Cultures and Systems

355 Pages·2008·1.86 MB·English

by  Vijay K. Bhatia

Legal Discourse across
Cultures and Systems
Hong Kong University Press thanks Xu Bing for writing the Press’s name in
his Square Word Calligraphy for the covers of its books. For further
information, see p.iv.
Legal Discourse across
Cultures and Systems
Edited by
Vijay K. Bhatia
Christopher N. Candlin
Jan Engberg
with the assistance of
Jane Lung
Hong Kong University Press
14/F Hing Wai Centre
7 Tin Wan Praya Road
Aberdeen
Hong Kong
© Hong Kong University Press 2008
Hardback ISBN 978-962-209-851-0
Paperback ISBN 978-962-209-852-7
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Secure On-line Ordering
http://www.hkupress.org
Printed and bound by Pre-Press Limited, Hong Kong, China.
Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose
art explores the complex themes of language across cultures,
has written the Press’s name in his Square Word Calligraphy.
This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and
the distinctive nature of our English-language books published
in China.
“At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing
more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new
way of rendering English words in the format of a square so
they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to
be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western
viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight
erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed.”
— Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing

Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Contributors ix
Introductory 1
1 Concepts, Contexts and Procedures in Arbitration Discourse 3
Vijay K. Bhatia, Christopher N. Candlin and Jan Engberg
Perspectives and Issues 33
2 Mixing Legal Cultures in International Arbitration: 35
The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal
Peter Malanczuk
3 Hybrid Dispute Processing in Japan: 53
Linking Arbitration with Conciliation
Yasunobu Sato
4 Confidentiality in Arbitrations 75
Christopher To
5 International Commercial Arbitration in India: 109
A Study of Discursive Practices
Kusum Dhanania
vi CONTENTS
Comparative Analysis and Interpretation 125
6 Interpretation across Legal Systems and Cultures: 127
A Critical Perspective
Vijay K. Bhatia and Christopher N. Candlin
7 Vagueness and Indeterminacy in Law 145
Jan Engberg and Dorothee Heller
8 Powers of the Court in the Malaysian Arbitration Act 169
Azirah Hashim
9 Discourse Systems in English Arbitration Awards 181
Girolamo Tessuto
10 Rhetorical Strategies in Arbitration Law 199
Anna Trosborg
11 Cultural Constraints on Arbitration Discourse 221
Maurizio Gotti
Applications and Implications 253
12 Arbitration in Sport 255
Paola Evangelisti Allori
13 Implications of Legal Globalisation for Brazilian 275
Legal Practice
Celina Frade
14 Translation in International Arbitration 291
Susan Sˇarcˇevic´
15 Translating Terminology in Arbitration Discourse 309
Marta Chroma
Index 329
Acknowledgements
This volume investigates the linguistic and discoursal properties of legal
documents used in international commercial arbitration contexts, focusing
on their construction, interpretation, and use in international arbitration
practice. The aim is to provide a better understanding of legal language
seen from an international perspective, in particular with a focus on cross-
cultural factors in the context of international arbitration practice. The
work presented in this collection has been accomplished with the support
of a Competitive Earmarked Research Grant awarded by the UGC
Research Grant Council in Hong Kong (project No. 9040474 entitled
Generic Integrity in Legislative Discourse in Multilingual and Multicultural
Contexts). Contributions in this volume are drawn from, but not restricted
to, the presentations made at the international conference in Hong Kong
(2–4 October 2003) on Law and Language in International Arbitration,
where members of this international research project presented their
findings to a wider community of legal and arbitration scholars and
practitioners. The conference was organized by the RGC funded CERG
project and co-sponsored by Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre,
The WTO Law and Dispute Resolution Centre and the Department of
English and Communication, City University of Hong Kong. The editors
gratefully acknowledge the support given by these organisations. The
volume represents a unique collection of contributions, bringing together
not only linguists and legal academics, but also arbitration practitioners.
The editors gratefully acknowledge the participation of these established
scholars from these related fields to contribute to this multidisciplinary
understanding of the use of language in international commercial
arbitration. We fully appreciate the time and effort they have spared to
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
make this project a successful example of international and
multidisciplinary collaboration. Special thanks are also due to Dr Jane
Lung for willingly offering all the editorial assistance to make this volume
possible.
Vijay Bhatia
Christopher Candlin
Jan Engberg
Contributors
Vijay K. Bhatia is Professor of English at the City University of Hong
Kong. His main research interests are genre analysis of professional
discourse, including legal, business, newspaper, advertising and other
promotional genres; ESP (theory and practice); simplification of legal and
other public documents; cross-cultural and disciplinary variation in
professional discourse. He has published in many international journals
in these areas. He has worked on a number of projects, the most recent
of which is ‘Generic Integrity in Legal Discourse in Multilingual and
Multicultural Contexts’, an international project in which 15 countries
participated. He is also on the editorial advisory boards of several
international journals. His book on Analysing Genre: Language Use in
Professional Settings (1993) is widely used by researchers interested in
genre theory and practice. His more recent book Worlds of Discourse
(2004) has appeared in the Advances in Applied Linguistics series.
Christopher N. Candlin is Senior Research Professor in the Department
of Linguistics of Macquarie University, Sydney. He was the Foundation
Executive Director of the Australian Government’s National Centre for
English Language Teaching and Research from 1987 to 1998, and also
established the Research Centre in Language in Social Life, also at
Macquarie. He has held Professorships at Lancaster, UK, the City
University of Hong Kong, and the UK Open University, and holds
Honorary Professorships at the Universities of Lancaster, Nottingham and
Cardiff in the UK. He currently holds a Leverhulme Trust Visiting
Research Professor in the Centre for Health Communication Research at
Cardiff University. His current research is in the fields of professional