A Principled Theory of Legal Interpretation

This project extends a recent, innovative approach in philosophy of language to provide an analysis of the meaning of statements of law. Law is a very important area of discourse. Yet it is one that few philosophers of language have explored, and which gives rise to distinctive interpretive issues that orthodox approaches in philosophy of language are unable to resolve. Developed appropriately, the innovative approach that we adopt a speech-act theoretic approach is able to resolve those issues. Because the project results in a novel and philosophically sound theory of legal interpretation, and uses that theory to resolve controversies in Australian constitutional law, it also makes a major contribution to legal theory and practice.