Moustaira, Elina N. --- "Narratives of laws, narratives of peoples" [2017] ELECD 1603; in Nafziger, A.R. James (ed), "Comparative Law and Anthropology" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 304

Book Title: Comparative Law and Anthropology

Editor(s): Nafziger, A.R. James

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955178

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Narratives of laws, narratives of peoples

Author(s): Moustaira, Elina N.

Number of pages: 13

Abstract/Description:

Because the world is not perceived in the same way by all people, different “world versions” and different “noetic systems” shape the law which, being in the sphere of ideas, influences our perceptions of reality but not the reality itself. Language is a part of society, a socially conditioned process, that forms an important structural element of peoples’ identities. Comparative legal studies are a privileged place of contemplation as far as the possibilities and the limits of legal translation are concerned. Each law is expressed through language, in written or oral form. It is a duty, therefore, of the comparativist to make intelligible a law formulated in a different language from their own. Is it possible? Is it always possible?