Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Law

Legal Language and Interpretation

Legal Language and Interpretation is a research topic within Law. Science Explorer counts 2.9k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the evolution of the European legal system, including topics such as the role of the European Union, legal interpretation, constitutional courts, judicial influence, fundamental rights, legislative drafting, language and law, judicial legitimacy, EU legislation, and comparative law.

  • European Union
  • legal interpretation
  • constitutional courts
  • judicial influence
  • fundamental rights
  • legislative drafting
  • language and law
  • judicial legitimacy
  • EU legislation
  • comparative law
Research works
2.9k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
292
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+51%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
24% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Legal Language and Interpretation

Which countries lead Legal Language and Interpretation research?

By volume, the United States and Italy publish the most (124 and 55 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 124 works
  2. 2 Italy 55 works
  3. 3 Russia 54 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 49 works
  5. 5 Germany 48 works
  6. 6 China 42 works
  7. 7 India 40 works
  8. 8 Poland 37 works
  9. 9 Australia 32 works
  10. 10 Spain 26 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 24.5%Italy: 10.9%Russia: 10.6%United Kingdom: 9.6%6 others listed: 44.4%24%largest
United States124 · 24.5%Italy55 · 10.9%Russia54 · 10.6%United Kingdom49 · 9.6%6 others listed225 · 44.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Legal Language and Interpretation research?

By volume in 2022-now, Max Planck Society publishes the most Legal Language and Interpretation research, followed by The University of Western Australia and La Trobe University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Max Planck SocietyGermany 8 works
  2. 2 The University of Western AustraliaAustralia 8 works
  3. 3 La Trobe UniversityAustralia 8 works
  4. 4 Nanjing Normal UniversityChina 7 works
  5. 5 Human Growth FoundationUnited States 5 works
  6. 6 University of WarsawPoland 5 works
  7. 7 University of BolognaItaly 5 works
  8. 8 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 5 works
  9. 9 Masaryk UniversityCzechia 5 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 5 works

Who are the leading researchers in Legal Language and Interpretation?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Legal Language and Interpretation include James G. Scott, Robert J. Sternberg and Cass Robert Sunstein.

  1. 1 James G. Scott Australia 136k citations
  2. 2 Robert J. Sternberg United States 94k citations
  3. 3 Cass Robert Sunstein United States 75k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Legal Language and Interpretation?

The most cited paper in Legal Language and Interpretation is "Scorekeeping in a Language Game" (David Lewis, 1979), with 648 citations. Next come "Language in the Legal Process" (375) and "Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice" (373).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Scorekeeping in a Language Game David Lewis · Springer series in language and communication Book chapter 1979 648
2 Language in the Legal Process Brenda Danet · Law & Society Review 1980 375
3 Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice Lawrence M. Solan, Pieter Meijes Tiersma Feb 2005 373
4 The Name and Nature of Translator Studies Andrew Chesterman · HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business Open access 30 Aug 2017 365
5 Overcoming absolute primacy: Respect for national identity under the Lisbon Treaty Armin von Bogdandy, Stephan W. Schill · Common Market Law Review Oct 2011 351
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Legal Language and Interpretation research done?

The largest centres of Legal Language and Interpretation research in 2022-now are Moscow (Russia), Budapest (Hungary), New York (United States) and Melbourne (Australia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 MoscowRussia 24 works
  2. 2 BudapestHungary 15 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 13 works
  4. 4 MelbourneAustralia 13 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 12 works
  6. 6 WarsawPoland 9 works
  7. 7 HamburgGermany 9 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 8 works
  9. 9 BrusselsBelgium 8 works
  10. 10 MunichGermany 8 works
See Legal Language and Interpretation on the map

Is Legal Language and Interpretation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 51% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Legal Language and Interpretation.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Legal Language and Interpretation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0028% in 2024.

still counting0.0020%0.0040%0.0060%Legal Language and Interpretation0.0050% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Legal Language and Interpretation over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Legal Language and Interpretation10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Legal Language and Interpretation. Posts are plain text and can be reported.