Considerations regarding law as an instrument of communication

• Author: Claudiu Ramon Butculescu
• Position: Acad. Andrei Radulescu' Legal Research Institute of Romanian Academy
• Pages: 22-29

Considerations regarding law as an instrument of communication

Associate researcher Claudiu Ramon BUTCULESCU, Ph.D.1

Abstract

This paper tackles the possibility of envisioning law as an instrument of

communication, using systemic and informational models. The effects of legal

communication have a profound influence on the evolution of the system of law and also on

national legal cultures. The means through which law is communicated, as well as the

analysis of the information that is transmitted, along with the legal noise generated by the

poor understanding of legal norms, are briefly discussed in the paper. In this direction,

legal linguistics are analyzed, especially the phrasing of legal norms, with regard to syntax,

morphology, phonetics and semantics, as well as their influence on the Romanian legal

system. Beside legal linguistics, the analysis of legal semiotics within the communication of

law is also discussed, as the system of law is considered an abstract and analytical

normative system, which uses texts and codes. Careful analysis of legal communication,

using the concepts of legal linguistics and legal semiotics could help alleviate the effects of

the faulty communication of law and enhance the understanding of legal norms by the

general public.

Keywords: communication, law, legal linguistics, legal semiotics.

JEL Classification: K10

1. Introduction

Communication represents a process of transmitting information, such as

thoughts or messages whose usual forms of communication are signs and

sounds2. Legal communication involves the transmission of information that has a

legal significance. Such a process of communication may take place in two circuits,

namely the communication of information from the society, based on the material

sources of law and a reverse process, communication of legal information, from the

system of law to the society. In this regard, we appreciate that the system of law

may be analyzed as a communication tool. Within information theory, there have

been proposed and analyzed several models of communication, of which the

constructivist model seems to have a concrete application of the system of law. In

this regard, the constructivist model of communication appears as a variant of the

transactional model, in which between the emitter and the receiver there are

mutual communication streams, with the difference that the constructivist model of

information places great emphasis on the significance of the message, as well as its





1 Claudiu Ramon Butculescu – "Acad. Andrei Rădulescu" Legal Research Institute of Romanian

Academy, butculescu@yahoo.com

2 The Colombia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (Colombia University Press, 2014), s.v. "Communication,"

https://www.questia.com/read/ 1E1-communicatn.