Special Workshop Abstract

Both law and language control domains of human behavior by means of systems of rules and conventions that are based on largely implicit knowledge.                

The present paper takes up two aspects of the various interrelations between the two domains:

First, both, language and law determine an infinite range of actual behavior by means of social conventions that are to a large extent implicit, and must, furthermore, be based on specific faculties that support the acquisition and use of the knowledge in question. 

In spite of these parallels, the content and structure of the knowledge is fundamentally different for principled reasons, some of which will be indicated. 

Second, the relation between language and law is asymmetrical in a number of respects.One of these is the fact, that law is to a large extent (but not necessarily completely) represented in linguistic form. Language on the other hand deals with large areas of behavior and experience such as e.g. spatial orientation, visual perception, or temporal experience, that usually are not subject to regulation by law.