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Kolarkova Oxana Gennadievna, Savina Anna Anatolievna MODAL VERBS IN LEGAL ...
philological sciences
УДК 811.111
МОДАЛЬНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ В ЮРИДИЧЕСКОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ
© 2018
Коларькова Оксана Геннадьевна, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры
языкознания и иностранных языков Савина Анна Анатольевна, кандидат педагогических наук, старший преподаватель
кафедры языкознания и иностранных языков Российский государственный университет правосудия, филиал в Нижнем Новгороде (603022, Россия, Нижний Новгород, проспект Гагарина 17А, e-mail: [email protected])
Аннотация. Данная статья посвящена вопросу употребления английских модальных глаголов в юридических документах с различными семантическими оттенками в зависимости от контекста изложенного текста. В статье представлены результаты анализа юридических текстов договоров, соглашений, конвенций, нормативно-правовых актов и других видов документов, которые были взяты из электронной базы данных Официального журнала Европейского Союза - правительственного бюллетеня Европейского Союза. Авторами данной статьи была проанализирована частота употребления модальных глаголов в вышеперечисленных юридических документах, среди которых наиболее часто употребляемыми считаются shall, should, may, shall not и will, а к наиболее редко используемым относятся may not, must, can, cannot и другие. Также в статье были выявлены функционально-семантические особенности модальных глаголов, раскрывающие их основные значения юридической направленности, к которым относятся: «обязательство», «запрещение», «разрешение», «возможность», «обещание». При интерпретации и переводе текстов юридической документации необходимо принимать во внимание выделенные специфические особенности английских модальных глаголов, чтобы избежать неясности, неточности и неопределенности, что является недопустимым в правовой сфере. В своем исследовании авторы статьи опираются на богатейший опыт как отечественных, так и зарубежных исследователей-лингвистов, что позволяет судить об обоснованности представленных в статье выводов.
Ключевые слова: юридический английский язык, юридические документы, императивность, юридические тексты, модальность, модальные значения, модальные глаголы, модальный глагол shall (not), модальный глагол should, модальный глагол may, модальный глагол will.
MODAL VERBS IN LEGAL ENGLISH
© 2018
Kolarkova Oxana Gennadievna, candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor of language study and foreign languages department Savina Anna Anatolievna, candidate of pedagogical sciences, senior teacher of language study
and foreign languages department Russian State University of Justice, Privolzhsky branch (603022, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, Gagarin Avenue, 17A, e-mail: [email protected])
Abstract. This article is devoted to the question of the use of English modal verbs in legal documents with various semantic shades depending on the context of the contained text. The article represents the results of legal texts analysis of treaties, agreements, conventions, legal acts and other types of documents taken from electronic database of the Official Journal of European Union - Government Bulletin of European Union. The authors of this article have analyzed the frequency of modal verbs use in the above-mentioned legal documents among which shall, should, may, shall not and will are considered to be the most frequently used while may not, must, can, cannot and others are related to the most rarely used. What's more, functional-semantic features of modal verbs have been identified in the article revealing their prior meanings of legal character which are the following: "obligation", "prohibition", "permission", "possibility", "promise". It is necessary to take into account these identified specific features of English modal verbs when interpreting and translating texts of legal documentation in order to avoid uncertainty, inaccuracy and ambiguity that are not valid in the sphere of legislation. The authors of the article in their research work have drawn on the extensive experience of both Russian and foreign scientists-linguists and this fact allows to judge the fairness of conclusions presented in this article.
Keywords: Legal English, legal documents, imperativeness, legal texts, modality, modal meanings, modal verbs, modal verb shall (not), modal verb should, modal verb may, modal verb will.
Intensive development of trade-economic and business relations, expansion of international contacts around the world demand linguistic basis elaboration with the aim of effective inter-lingual communication. Any activity of international level requires the existence of official document (treaty, contract, agreement, legal acts and their projects etc.), which are sure both to validate serious relationship of cooperating parties and to define their duties to each other. As Krapivkina O.A. says, "in order to be effective and understandable to any member of society, any legal document must be clear, definite, containing unambiguous language. Otherwise it can lead to uncertainty in the sphere of legislation, mistakes in law enforcement" [13, p. 114]. Legal language as well as other professional languages is fundamentally different from the language of general use. It has its both lexical and grammar features. Imperativeness is considered to the priority stylish feature referred mainly to legal documents. Imperativeness is defined as "certainty of conduct requirements, exact definition of both rights and duties between subjects of legal relations which exclude any discretion or free choice" [20]. The main role in imperativeness realization belongs to modal verbs. In this regard we think the problem of English modal verbs in Legal English,
in particular, in the texts of legal documentation, to be timely and topical.
Modal verbs in Legal English is the subject matter of a great deal of linguistic researches. Most of scientific works deal with the problem of English modal verbs translation in legal texts (Krapivkina O.A., Masalova K.S., Medvedeva M.S. and so on); polysemy of some modal verbs in Legal English (Aher M., Kaminskaya E. V., Krapivkina O.A., Zelenka R. and others); identification of their grammar and some general semantic features (Huddleston R., Palmer F.R., Pullum G.K.., Vinogradiv V.V. and others). From our point of view, functional-semantic features of English modal verbs exactly in the texts of legal documents are not fully identified in analyzed scientific researches in the sphere of linguistics.
In this connection, the purpose of our article is firstly to analyze how frequently English modal verbs are used in the texts of such legal documents as treaties, agreements, conventions, legal acts and others, and also to identify functional-semantic features of modal verbs, namely, their main modal meanings of legal character.
Legal English is the style of the English language used by lawyers in their work. Legal language is used in wide variety of documents, from the drawing up of statutes, treaties,
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Коларькова Оксана Геннадьевна, Савина Анна Анатольевна МОДАЛЬНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ В ЮРИДИЧЕСКОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ...
declarations, conventions, etc. to the closing of agreements and contracts between individuals or corporations. Legal documents are composed in most cases by professionals (contract drafters) who have to be sure that every sentence in document says exactly what it is intended to say and to avoid misinterpretation at the same time. As Crystal and Davy claim, writing of these documents is not spontaneous but is copied directly from form books' which contain established phrases because "legal language must always behave in conformity with the law" [6, p. 214] when so much depends on the results of the interpretation.
Legal texts vary on a wide range of classifications depending on its nature of function. Legal English can be seen as consisting of several kinds of writing, depending on their communicative function. As suggested in Risto Hiltunen's book, there are three different types of legal writing to be distinguished: (a) academic texts which consist of academic research journals and legal textbooks, (b) juridical texts covering court judgments or law reports and (c) legislative or statutory writings consisting of Acts of Parliament, contracts, treaties, etc [8, p.81].
Legal texts by their nature exhibit a variety of modal meanings essential to their content and texture. Modal meanings are closely connected with the notion "modality".
Modality (from Lat. modalis - modal h modus - mode, measure) - is a general category found in many languages. It is one of the most difficult categories from theoretical and pragmatic points of view. The category of "modality" has always been regarded as a necessary (integral) feature of any sentence (utterance). The question concerning "modality" because of its diversity, multidimensional nature, still remains controversial and not yet finally settled in language study. A lot of scientific works written by Alsinbaeva R.G., Aijmer K., Arutyunova N.D., Huddleston R., Vinogradov V.V., Palmer F.R., Panfilov V.Z., Petrov N.E., Quirk R. and so on are devoted to this question.
In Linguistic Encyclopedia "modality" is defined as "functional-semantic category which expresses various kinds of statement relations towards reality and also different kinds of subjective qualification of those who report" [26, p.303].
In Russian linguistics the concept "modality" as an important semantic category revealing the relations of sentence or utterance content towards reality, was firstly formulated and presented in accordance to the contemporary Russian language by Academician Vinogradov V.V. Besides, the scientist summarily outlined functional hierarchy of those relations [24]. In foreign linguistics the initial stage of this category study was connected with the name of a French linguist Balli Sh. who made a fundamentally important comment on the following fact that "one mustn't give the meaning to the utterance if there isn't any expression of modality" [4, p. 44].
"Modality may be defined as the manner in which the meaning of a clause is qualified so as to reflect the speaker's judgment of the likelihood of the proposition it expresses being true" [Quirk 19, p.219]. In more practical view term "modality" includes various semantic notions such as ability, possibility, obligation and imperative meaning [Huddleston 9, p.173].
In our research "modality" is, above all, functional-semantic category in the basis of which there are modal meanings of legal character taking place in the texts of English legal documents. They are the following: "obligation", "prohibition", "permission", "possibility", "promise".
One of the ways to express modality in Legal English is modal verbs with appropriate legal modal meanings. In order to identify modal verbs and their functional-semantic features of legal character we've carried out the analysis of about 20 legal texts which are referred to the third type of legal writings - legislative or statutory writings consisting of legal acts, contracts, treaties, agreements etc, according to Risto Hiltunen's legal texts classification [8]. Legal texts of various documents were taken from the Official Journal of the European Union - Government Bulletin of European
Union, which is published every working day in all of the official languages of the member states. It was first published in 1952 and its first electronic version appeared in 2013 [25]. This electronic version, given in special website [17] contains a database of legal texts concerning the European Union. For the purposes of easier orientation within the site, the texts are arranged in collections - treaties, international agreements, legislation in force, legislation in preparation, case-law, parliamentary questions. The access to the site is free and no registration is needed.
Having analyzed the texts of some legal documents we have come to the conclusion that the modal verb shall is the verb with the highest frequency. It occurs 275 times out of 540 modal verbs in total which accounts 50,9% of all occurrences in analyzed legal texts. In most cases the modal verb shall conveys the meaning of "obligation", "duty", "order", "command", "enforcement". Speculating on such type of legal documents as "treaty" Sheina I.M. claims that modal
verb shall "provides prescriptive character of a treaty.....
Modal shade of any treaty serves to strengthen the role of the concept "obligation" in the conceptual structure of legal discourse" [23, p. 48].
Thus, imposing obligation and expressing command the verb shall is widely used in such international legal documents, as: conventions, agreements, legal acts, treaties, contracts. This main function of shall in Legal English can be illustrated by following examples [17]:
- The Commission shall be responsible for promoting and facilitating nuclear research in the Member States and for complementing it by carrying out a Community research and training programme (Consolidated version of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. 30.3.2010);
- The Parties shall take all necessary measures to implement this Agreement (Agreement between the United States and the European Union on the protection of personal information relating to the prevention, investigation, detection, and prosecution of criminal offences. 10.12.2016).
As a result of legal documents analysis one can state that the modal verb shall has great semantic diversity and is used by legal drafters and lawyers for many other purposes. Such scientists-linguists as Butt P., Castle R., Zelenka R. talk in their research works about so-called "overuse of shall". Butt R. claims that "in one document shall serves a number of purposes. There may be a primary purpose, with subsidiary purposes; or two or three purposes may carry equal weight" [5, p. 132]. Besides its primary purpose ("obligation", "duty"), shall in Legal English can state circumstances, give a direction, to create a condition precedent or subsequent, to grant a right, to express intention or the future. According to Medvedeva M.S., the modal verb shall can have «the meaning of declarativity, strict compliance with the document, that makes it closer to the verb "must" because of strictness of the utterance [16, p. 165]. In a word, we can see that one of the specific features of the verb shall in Legal English is its flexibility as it marks many types of meanings. But this "multi-meaningfulness" is "dangerous because it can lead to an argument about which meaning it marks in particular sentences" [27, p. 33].
The modal verb should takes the second place after shall as the most frequent and occurs 91 times that represents 16,8 %. The verb should in legal documents can be often used as a synonym of the verb shall in the meaning of obligation.
- Such an agreement should be without prejudice to the decision-making autonomy of the European Union (Agreement between the European Union and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia establishing a framework for the participation of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in European Union crisis management operations. 12.12.2012);
- The identification number under which VAT is paid should therefore be communicated in advance to enable customs authorities to check its validity upon importation of the goods (Legislative acts. Council regulation amending
Kolarkova Oxana Gennadievna, Savina Anna Anatolievna philological
MODAL VERBS IN LEGAL ... sciences
Regulation (EU) on administrative cooperation and combating fraud in the field of value added tax).
It must be mentioned that the modal verb should in contract documents is often used with inversion. In this respect it usually replaces the conjunction if making the sentence conditional. For instance [17]:
- Should there be any major difficulties in implementing a decision as referred to in this Article, a Member State shall refer them to the Council which shall discuss them and seek appropriate solutions (Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 9.5.2008);
- Should management and labour so desire, the dialogue between them at Community level may lead to contractual relations, including agreements (Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, signed at Amsterdam. 10.11.1997).
The modal verb may takes the third place after should as the most frequent. It represents 13,8% and occurred 75 times in analyzed legal texts. May is frequently used to mark "permission" to a person or a party and grant rights to authorities. The examples are the following [17]:
- The Customs Sub-Committee may decide to amend the provisions of this Protocol (Acts adopted by bodies by international agreements. Decision of the Eu-Republic of Moldova Customs Sub-Committee of 6 October 2016. 16.2.2017).
What's more, the modal verb may is used to express "possibility" to perform or not to perform any action, which often depends on circumstances or conditions sometimes stipulated in the legal text. Let's have a look at some examples [17]:
- A court which would be required to decline jurisdiction may stay its proceedings if the jurisdiction of the other court is contested (Consolidated version of 1968 Brussels Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters);
- If the other Party cannot agree to such proposed compensation or other remedial action within two months after the rendering of the panel report, it may propose to the panel the suspension or withdrawal of equivalent benefits under this Agreement (Agreement on telecommunications between the European Community and the Republic of Korea).
The negative form shall not occurs 54 times in analyzed legal texts especially they are mostly found in treaties. This modal verb accounts 10 % of total. The main function of shall not is to express prohibition [17]:
- The provisions of the Charter shall not extend in any way the competences of the Union as defined in the Treaties (Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union. 7.6.2016);
- The President of the European Council shall not hold a national office (Treaty of Lisbon. 17.12.2007).
The modal verb will represents 6,1% of all occurrences and it occurs 33 times in legal texts. Will is usually used to create a promise or contractual obligation like in the examples below [17]:
-The European Union will decide whether third States will be invited to participate in an EU crisis management operation (promise) (Agreement between the European Union and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia establishing a framework for the participation of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in European Union crisis management. 12.12.2012).
- The Treaty will enter into force on 1 January 2009 (contractual obligation) (Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. 9.5.2008).
The rest of the modal verbs such as should not, would, may not, cannot, might, need, must are extremely rarely used in the texts of legal documents and represent less than 3 % of total.
To sum up, English texts of legal documents are charac-138
terized by the frequent use of modal verbs, which are considered to be an inseparable part of Legal English. The most commonly used among them are shall, should, may, shall not and will which predominate together reaching about 97,7% of all occurrences. All of them have various semantic shades of meanings depending on the context. Their main modal meanings of legal character are "obligation", "prohibition", "permission", "possibility", "promise". Identified semantic features of modal verbs in Legal English have to be taken into consideration when interpreting and translating legal documents to avoid uncertainty, ambiguity and mistakes that can't be allowed in legislation.
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Статья поступила в редакцию 29.12.2017
Статья принята к публикации 27.03.2018
Коларькова Оксана Геннадьевна, Савина Анна Анатольевна
МОДАЛЬНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ В ЮРИДИЧЕСКОМ АНГЛИЙСКОМ ...
