Legal language holds meaning across unforeseeable contexts through a promise-like indeterminacy
Evidence
At this later stage in his own Darstellung, however, DeMan has moved on to what we may call the “indeterminacy” of legal language, that is to say, its capacity to function meaningfully in altogether unforeseeable new contexts, something characterized, on the one hand, as a “promise,” and on the other, as the tension between two functions of language, the constative and the performative (“grammatical logic can function only if its referential consequences are disregarded” [AR269]). — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 523
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the constative/performative tension in legal language, which parallels how aesthetic forms carry economic content across contexts.
- XREF: connects to: Statutory language is a social institution constraining what words can mean — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3510; Litigation arises because legal meaning is unstable and uncertain — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186; Most litigation arises because the meaning of law is uncertain — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 195 (+5 more)
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Statutory language is a social institution constraining what words can mean — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3510; Litigation arises because legal meaning is unstable and uncertain — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186; Most litigation arises because the meaning of law is uncertain — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 195 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Pragmatism inverts formalism by deriving legal rules from social need rather than semantic extension
#complicates(0.75) — Richard A. Posner, What Has Pragmatism to Offer Law?, 96