Law Language and Culture: Hermeneutic Preliminaries

Abstract

In this paper I want to briefly explore aspects of the hermeneutic tradition in Western philosophy in the context of the continuing struggles by many countries to adapt their adopted legal systems to local cultures. In particular this will perhaps indicate the futility of maintaining such systems in non-western cultures with any realistic expectation that they will retain their "essential" or "historical" meanings and functions. This is based upon the view that law cannot be viewed as an object separate from its social context.