The Language of Jury Trial [electronic resource] : A Corpus-Aided Analysis of Legal-Lay Discourse /
Heffer, C.author.
Drawing on representative corpora of transcripts from over 100 English criminal jury trials, this stimulating new book explores the nature of 'legal-lay discourse', or the language used by legal professionals before lay juries. Careful analyses of genres such as witness examination and the judge's summing-up reveal a strategic tension between a desire to persuade the jury and the need to conform to legal constraints. The book also suggests ways of managing this tension linguistically to help, not hinder, the jury.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Tables, Figures and Texts; Acknowledgements; Conventions; Introduction; Part I: Communication in Jury Trial; 1 Legal-Lay Discourse; Introduction; Discourse; Professional discourse; Cultural-cognitive modes; The modes and discourse; The modes and legal-lay discourse; Conclusion; 2 Coming into Court; Introduction: the courtroom; Doors into court; Communication in court; The transcripts and representation; The corpora and representativeness; Conclusion; 3 The Trial as Complex Genre; Introduction; Perspectives on the trial; The trial as ritual
The opening address and the crime storyWitness examination: the trial as contest; The closing arguments and the trial story; Summing-up and beyond: the trial as judgement; Conclusion; Part II: Witness Examination; 4 The Counsel as Narrator; Introduction; Free witness narrative; 'Showing' and 'telling' in examination-in-chief; Narrating through the witness; Narrating despite the witness: cross-examination; Conclusion; 5 The Counsel as Subject; Introduction; Subjectivity and the cross-examiner; The expression of judgement; Projecting one's case; Evaluative pointing; Evaluative peaks; Conclusion
Part III: The Judge's Summing-up6 Directing the Jury; Introduction; Helpers and opponents; The summing-up and narrative accommodation; Narrativization and categorization in the proof directions; Knowledge, belief and comprehension; Conclusion; 7 (Re) Viewing the Case; Introduction; The review of evidence and judicial perspective; Language and judicial comment; Linguistic strategies in judicial comment; Perspective and directionality; Conclusion; 8 Conclusion; Review of the evidence: legal-lay discourse in jury trial; Deliberation: some implications for jury trial
Verdict: a bridge between law and lifeAppendix 1 Overview of Corpora; Appendix 2 EXAMINATIONS Copora; Appendix 3 SUMMING-UP Corpus; Notes; References; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Drawing on representative corpora of transcripts from over 100 English criminal jury trials, this stimulating new book explores the nature of 'legal-lay discourse', or the language used by legal professionals before lay juries. Careful analyses of genres such as witness examination and the judge's summing-up reveal a strategic tension between a desire to persuade the jury and the need to conform to legal constraints. The book also suggests ways of managing this tension linguistically to help, not hinder, the jury.
Sociolinguistics.
Criminal law.
Law—Philosophy.
Law.
Criminology.
Sociolinguistics.
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law.
Fundamentals of Law.
Criminology and Criminal Justice, general.