Language of law in Polish/German contrast

Abstract

Language of law by its functions should, above all, be precise, unambiguous, and concise. For this reason, this type of language is characterized by a very extensive and strictly regulated set of legal terms, which allows for a relatively uniform interpretation of the applicable law. In this paper, I try to prove that the language of the law cannot be identified exclusively with specialist terminology. I attempt to illustrate that both Polish and German legal languages differ from everyday language especially when it comes to the frequency with which certain linguistic devices are used, both in the syntactic and textual spheres.