Interpretation and Meaning in the Renaissance
The Case of Law

This book investigates theories of interpretation and meaning in Renaissance jurisprudence.

Ian Maclean (Author)

9780521415460, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 March 1992

256 pages, 8 b/w illus.
23.7 x 15.9 x 2.4 cm, 0.55 kg

'Maclean has written a remarkably learned and penetrating study of legal interpretation …' Brian Vickers, The Times Literary Supplement

This book investigates theories of interpretation and meaning in Renaissance jurisprudence. How do they relate to the institutions of the law, especially pedagogical institutions? What characterizes the most commonly adopted theories of the legal profession? In what form were they published? How do they relate to modern canons of interpretation found in the trivium of grammar, dilaectics and rhetoric? In what ways, if any, do they mark a departure from medieval approaches? How do they relate to modern canons of interpretation? And how do they relate to similar issues in modern semantics and the philosophy of language, such as speech act theory or the 'logic of the supplement'? An answer to these questions is sought through an investigation of Renaissance problems concerning the authority of interpreters, the questions of signification, definition, verbal propriety and verbal extension, the problem of cavillation, the alternative interpretative strategies of ratio legis and mens legislatoris, the performative functions of language, and custom and equity as means of interpretation.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Notes on the presentation of the text
Introduction
1. Contexts
2. Interpretation and the arts course
3. Theories of interpretation and meaning
4. Parallels and examples
Conclusion
Bibliography of primary sources
Index of citations from the Corpus Juris Civilis
Index of names
Index of terms.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]