engleski

Language and Law in Nineteenth-Century Croatia

In the course of the 19th century, Croatia was part of the Habsburg Monarchy and the use of its legal languages closely followed the oscillating language policies of the multilingual Empire. Within a relatively short period of time between 1840's and 1860's three legal languages superseded each other: Latin, as the traditional language of law was replaced by German during the neo-absolutist period in 1850's which, in its turn, was superceded by Croatian in 1860's. At the time, Croatian itself was undergoing major changes as Štokavian, one of the three major dialects, became the basis for the new standard. The paper will trace the devlopment of Croatian as a legal language based on selected texts belonging to different legal genres, ranging from the first law textbook written in Kajkavian in 1818, the civil and criminal codes published in 1850's, records of court proceedings of Tabula Banalis, the highest court in Croatia, to articles on legal language and terminology published in professional law journals at the time. The use of legal languages illustrates language policies as the language history „from above“ on the one hand, while records of court proceedings can provide insight into language histories „from below“ and the interplay between the professional and common language. Law journals provide evidence on attitudes on the development of legal language expressed by members of the legal profession as a community of practice.

Croatian legal terminology, language policy, standardization

nije evidentirano