The Voice of the Law in Transition (Indonesian Jurists and Their Languages, 1915-2000)
List Price:
$92.00
- Availability: Confirm prior to ordering
- Branding: minimum 50 pieces (add’l costs below)
- Check Freight Rates (branded products only)
Branding Options (v), Availability & Lead Times
- 1-Color Imprint: $2.00 ea.
- Promo-Page Insert: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed, single-sided page)
- Belly-Band Wrap: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed)
- Set-Up Charge: $45 per decoration
- Availability: Product availability changes daily, so please confirm your quantity is available prior to placing an order.
- Branded Products: allow 10 business days from proof approval for production. Branding options may be limited or unavailable based on product design or cover artwork.
- Unbranded Products: allow 3-5 business days for shipping. All Unbranded items receive FREE ground shipping in the US. Inquire for international shipping.
- RETURNS/CANCELLATIONS: All orders, branded or unbranded, are NON-CANCELLABLE and NON-RETURNABLE once a purchase order has been received.
Product Details
Author:
A. Massier
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
302
Publisher:
Brill (January 1, 2008)
Imprint:
Brill
Language:
English
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13:
9789067182713
ISBN-10:
9067182710
Weight:
16.96oz
Dimensions:
6.3" x 9.45" x 0.75"
File:
TWO RIVERS-PERSEUS-Metadata_Only_Perseus_Distribution_Customer_Group_Metadata_20260327163342-20260327.xml
Folder:
TWO RIVERS
List Price:
$92.00
Country of Origin:
Netherlands
Series:
Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volke
As low as:
$87.40
Publisher Identifier:
P-PER
Discount Code:
H
Pub Discount:
35
Overview
In the literature on Indonesian legal history, the role of language has been paid scant attention. Even the replacement of Dutch by Indonesian as the official language of the law, surely a major event for the work of Indonesian jurists, has not been closely examined. Yet, since the early 1970s, legal usage and terminology have been the topic of a steady stream of highly critical publications by linguists and, remarkably, by jurists as well. Their criticism is focused on the heterogeneity of law language and terminology, and the deviation of legal usage from the official standard language. Government measures (language courses, law dictionaries) have not allayed this criticism.
This study exposes two fundamental defects in the government measures and in the criticism itself. Firstly, they are grounded in an instrumental approach to language, an approach that sees language as a mere tool of the jurist, and as secondary in importance to the conceptual world that is considered law’s core business. Secondly, they greatly underestimate the impact of the declining knowledge of Dutch upon the development of Indonesian law language. Massier argues that the law must be viewed as inextricably bound up with the language in which it is formulated. Consequently, legal training and practice are examined in this study in terms of language behaviour and conventions, of learning, writing and speaking the languages of the law. The voice of the law in transition provides a language history of Indonesian law and its practitioners.
This study exposes two fundamental defects in the government measures and in the criticism itself. Firstly, they are grounded in an instrumental approach to language, an approach that sees language as a mere tool of the jurist, and as secondary in importance to the conceptual world that is considered law’s core business. Secondly, they greatly underestimate the impact of the declining knowledge of Dutch upon the development of Indonesian law language. Massier argues that the law must be viewed as inextricably bound up with the language in which it is formulated. Consequently, legal training and practice are examined in this study in terms of language behaviour and conventions, of learning, writing and speaking the languages of the law. The voice of the law in transition provides a language history of Indonesian law and its practitioners.








