Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Historical Pragmatics
Vol. 25:3 (2024) ► pp.392–418

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Judges’ reformulations in judicial interpretation in Chinese judgments

A comparative analysis

ORCiD logo with link | Southeast University
 | No. 1 Junior Middle School of Binhai County
Published online: 8 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.21002.zha
Abstract
In hybrid legal contexts in China, judges’ speech acts of reformulating rules serve to demonstrate their ideological and linguistic preferences in law enforcement. A comparative analysis of judges’ reformulations in judgments in the traditional (imperial) and contemporary periods in this study discloses a disparity in their speech style over time. Though judges in the two periods both navigate between the ethical discourse and the legal discourse in the negotiation of meaning in law, traditional judges are found to have reformulated rules from various sources, particularly those of Confucian classics, acting as more of a constructive legal interpreter. In contrast, contemporary judges tend to reformulate rules of the codified law in a more monologic style, thereby displaying greater respect for the autonomy of law in their reformulations. These differences are interpreted from a socio-cultural standpoint.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The language of judges’ reformulations
    • 2.1Reformulation as a communicative act in legal settings
    • 2.2Judges’ speech act in the Chinese legal context
  • 3.Data and method
  • 4.Classifying reformulations in judgments
    • 4.1Types of reformulations
    • 4.2Sources of reformulations
  • 5.Comparative analysis of reformulations in judicial interpretation
    • 5.1The choice of rules
    • 5.2Judges’ orientation to interaction
    • 5.3The interaction between reformulations in type and source
      • 5.3.1Traditional judges’ diversified and dialogic reformulations
      • 5.3.2Contemporary judges’ routinised and monologic reformulations
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
References
Anthony, Laurence. 2014. AntConc 3.2.4. (Computer software.) Tokyo: Waseda University. Available online at: [URL]
Austin, John Langshaw. 1962. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. Mikhail. 1984. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cao, Deborah. 2004. Chinese Law: A Language Perspective. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. “Legal Speech Acts as Intersubjective Communicative Action”. In Anne Wagner, Wouter Werner and Deborah Cao (eds), Interpretation, Law and the Construction of Meaning, 65–82. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “Illocutionary Acts of Chinese Legislative Language”. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (7): 1329–1340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Charnock, Ross. 2009. “Overruling as a Speech Act”. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (3): 401–426. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Chongye. 2010. 古代判词300篇 (‘300 Selected Chinese Judgments in Ancient Times’). Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cheng, Shude. 1990. 论语集释 (‘The Analects: An Interpretation’). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conte, Maria-Elisabeth. 1985. “Two Types of Performativity and Two Types of Speech Acts”. International Pragmatics Association Conference. September 1985. Viareggio.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dallmayr, Fred. 1992. “Hermeneutics and the Rule of Law”. In Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld and David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, 283–304. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. 1986. Memoires: For Paul de Man. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1992. “Forces of Law: The ‘Mysterious Foundation of Authority’”. In Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld and David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, 3–67. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferraz de Almeida, Fabio and Paul Drew. 2020. “The Fabric of Law-in-Action: ‘Formulating’ the Suspect’s Account During Police Interviews in England”. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 27 (1): 35–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garfinkel, Harold and Harvey Sacks. 1986. “On Formal Structures of Practical Action”. In Harold Garfinkel (ed.), Ethnomethodological Studies of Work, 160–193. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giltrow, Janet and Dieter Stein (eds). 2017. The Pragmatic Turn in Law: Inference and Interpretation in Legal Discourse. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Good, Jeffrey. 2015. “Reported and Enacted Actions: Moving beyond Reported Speech and Related Concepts”. Discourse Studies 17 (6): 663–681. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guan, Wei. 2013. “论中国古代判词说理性修辞的意蕴及其价值趋向” (‘On the Connotative Use and Orientations of the Argumentative Rhetoric in Chinese Imperial Judgments’). 法律方法 (‘Journal of Legal Method’) 13 (1): 215–225.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Yong. 2015. “Yin (Nondisclosure/Rectification), Zhi (Fairness/Straightforwardness), and Ren (Responsibility): A New Round of Debate Concerning Analects 13.18.” Contemporary Chinese Thought 46 (3): 3–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
IBM Corp. 2013. SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 22.0). New York: IBM Corp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jin, Rentan and Guochi Wu. 2003. 断案精华 (‘A Collection of Classical Lawsuits’). 福州 (Fuzhou): 海峡文艺出版社 (‘Haixia Literature and Art Publishing House’).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kryk-Kastovsky, Barbara. 2009. “Speech Acts in Early English Court Trials”. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (3): 440–457. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Körner, Henrike. 2000. Negotiating Authority: The Logogenesis of Dialogue in Common Law Judgements. (Unpublished PhD thesis.) Sydney: Sydney University Press.
Kurzon, Dennis. 1986. It is Hereby Promulgated: Explorations into Legal Speech Acts. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liao, Meizhen. 2006. “中国法庭互动话语(re)formulation现象研究” (‘(Re)formulation in Chinese Courtroom Interaction’), 外语研究 (‘Foreign Language Research’) 21: 1–13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Bing. 2008. “‘亲亲相隐’与 ‘大义灭亲’” (‘Mutual Non-disclosure’ and ‘Upholding Justice at the Cost of One’s Blood Relation’). 社会科学论坛 (‘Tribune of Social Sciences’) 91: 37–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matoesian, Gregory. 2000. “Intertextual Authority in Reported Speech: Production Media in the Kennedy Smith Rape Trial”. Journal of Pragmatics 32 (7): 879–914. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olsen, Frances. 2017. “Pragmatic Interpretation by Judges: Constrained Performatives and the Deployment of Gender Bias”. In Janet Giltrow and Dieter Stein (eds), The Pragmatic Turn in Law: Inference and Interpretation in Legal Discourse, 205–232. Boston and Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Philips, Susan. 1985. “Strategies of Clarification in Judges’ Use of Language: From the Written to the Spoken”. Discourse Processes 8 (4): 421–436. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Ideology in the Language of Judges. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosenfeld, Michel. 1992. “Deconstruction and Legal Interpretation”. In Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld and David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, 152–210. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shi, Guangquan. 2006. The Comprise of Li and Law and Historical Changes of Chinese Traditional Legal Culture. Beijing: Law Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solan, Lawrence. 1993. The Language of Judges. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Su, Li. 2001. “判决的背后” (‘Logic in Judgments’). 法学研究 (‘Chinese Journal of Law’) 23 (3): 3–18.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Supreme People’s Court of PRC. 2021. China Judgement Online. Accessed in 2015 at: [URL]
Vass, Holly. 2017. “Lexical Verb Hedging in Legal Discourse: the Case of Law Journal Articles and Supreme Court Majority and Dissenting Opinions”. English for Specific Purposes 481: 17–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Visconti, Jacqueline. 2009. (Editorial) “Speech Acts in Legal Language: Introduction.” Journal of Pragmatics 41 (3): 393–400. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Volosinov, Valentin Nikolaevich. 1973. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. New York: Seminar Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagner, Anne, Wouter Werner and Deborah Cao (eds). 2007. Interpretation, Law and the Construction of Meaning. Dordrecht: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Shirong. 1997. Rhetorical Perspective to Traditional Judgements. Beijing: China University of Politics and Law Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weber, Samuel. 1992. “In the Name of the Law”. In Drucilla Cornell, Michel Rosenfeld and David Gray Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, 232–257. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Jinfan. 2003. 中国法制史 (‘History of Chinese Legal Systems’). Beijing: Higher Education Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Zhongqiu. 2006. 中西法律文化比较研究 (‘Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Legal Cultures’). Beijing: China University of Politics and Law Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Siahaan, Yanti, July Esther & Debora
2025. Judicial Analysis of Law Enforcement Against Corruption In The Procurement of Goods and Services For Government Interest . Indonesian Journal of Law and Justice 2:3 ► pp. 13 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue