Project
Law and Language in a Changing World is an interdisciplinary initiative based at the University of Western Ontario. The project brings together scholars from law and related areas to investigate how laws are interpreted within legal institutions and understood by the public.
Like all language, the language of law can be ambiguous, vague or otherwise hard to understand. It often combines technical and ordinary meanings, aiming to be precise but also accessible to everyone. As a result, what legal language means can be unclear. This poses problems both for judges interpreting the law and for people trying to follow it.
Our project studies legal language from the perspectives of multiple disciplines, using theoretical, doctrinal and empirical approaches. The broader goal is to connect scholars globally to explore topics at the intersection of law and language.
We are grateful for financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Western University’s Interdisciplinary Development Initiative.
How you can take part
Attend our events. We are organizing a series of talks in 2026–27. While we are based at Western, we strive to hold our events both in-person and on Zoom. We encourage you to register.
Read or submit a blog post. We profile relevant scholars and provide updates on relevant scholarship, events, legislation and case law on our blog. Feel free to submit a proposal for a post.
Join our network. If you would like us to keep you updated on our work and events, please subscribe by submitting your email below:
Law and Language 