Projects / Programmes
Incorporation of the EU Legal Terminology into the Slovenian Legal System
January 1, 2014
- December 31, 2017
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.05.00 |
Social sciences |
Law |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S110 |
Social sciences |
Juridical sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.05 |
Social Sciences |
Law |
Researchers (28)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Throughout its years of operation, the research programme has been defined by its specific and multilayered aims and framework, comprising both more long term but more appreciable aims and the more immediate (daily) objectives which may not be so directly noticeable. The creation of the programme, and the underlying attention to the issue of legal terminology, was originally supported by the difficulties encountered in the period of Slovenia's path towards EU membership, including the need to incorporate the vast EU acquis into the Slovenian legal order, a gargantuan task that Slovenia succeeded to fulfil in formal terms but not without the expense measured in substantive mistakes, i.e. weak or erroneous terminological solutions. This experience was a telling example that specific qualities of EU law also pose a terminological challenge that is not to be brushed aside and that can largely not be anticipated in advance, and the institution of the programme was a reflection of this awareness and the intention to assume the responsibility on the part of the programme to endeavour to review the large work concluded, help in overcoming the initial difficulties and be involved in meeting new terminological challenges with new and reasoned terminological solutions. On the other hand, the practice of EU law and its development after Slovenia's accession, notably, at the level of primary legislation, the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in late 2009 or the current discussion on the needed further institutional refurbishments of the European polity, show that terminological questions remain a current part of the work and responsibilities to ensure a successful coexistence of the European and national legal orders.
The programme group has undertaken its terminological work from several standpoints relevant for this relationship: in solving the conceptual differences between the systems (usually the consequence of nationally conditioned and adapted legal systems, which poses a challenge both in the marshalling of immediate ties or tensions between the various national legal systems (e.g. in the context of private international law) and in identifying the possible foundations an substance of a common European order), the specific issues related to the justice system, i.e. the mechanisms of operation of the rule of law in various Member States and from the point of view of the substantive, linguistic and terminological relevance of the national systems for EU law (e.g. the differences related to procedural rules, the regulation of access to justice and issues of judicial (and constitutional) review), as well as the difficulty of deciding on the linking or distinguishing between the related but varied terms and legal concepts, and finally even the crafting of new terminological solutions for the new EU concepts, a work requiring all the more prudence with the already saturated national systems where different legal areas may adopt varied terminological solutions to an open legal issue.
To a large extent, the work of the programme group as described has thus been and remains incessant, and the results of its work are demonstrated not only through contributions to the scientific literature (some of the most important are listed later in the report) but also in the search for the concrete terminological solutions in cooperation with the translating services of the EU institutions and wider in cooperation with the stakeholders of legal regulation and practice in Slovenia. Furthermore, in the sense of a dedicated care for the development of Slovenian legal language, it also remains a perennial necessity.
Nevertheless, the programme group has also undertaken to make available that part of its final results which will be prepared in the form of a dictionary of European terminology (which is now in its final stage of redaction and will, also depending on editorial decisions concerning the groups of the terms included, contain between 15.000
Significance for science
From the times of enlightened absolutism onwards the domestic law that replaced the ius commune has been a particular phenomenon of each European state. Because of that legal science at the present time is more or less limited to the state of its origin in which, according to the territorial principle, the legal system is in force. Even the law of supranational organisations lives to an important extent in the legal systems of member states. It influences them in a direct way through supranational institutions and by the validity of the international law itself, and indirectly as a part of domestic law. The present research programme will necessarily broaden the scope of legal science predominantly focused on the domestic law.
Full membership of Slovenia in the European Union changed also the status of Slovenian language. It has become one of the official languages of the EU. The results of the research will necessarily influence the use of Slovenian legal language in the institutions of the European Union. The results of the research may be interesting also for other countries waiting to become members of the European Union facing similar problems in the process of harmonisation of their legal systems with the legal system of the EU.
Significance for the country
The problem of adequate legal terminology is closely connected with the autonomy of Slovenian legal science and culture as well as with the substantial aspect of equality and full membership of Slovenia in the EU. If Slovenia wants to retain its national and cultural identity it should, among other things, take care of the adequate and well-designed legal language. This can be regarded as one of the priorities of Slovenian legal science. Legal terminology also shapes legal culture, culture of arguments, where each expression holds a specific meaning, which has to be legally valued, especially when legal messages are inspired by the terminology from other legal systems and the EU legal order. In the multilingual European Union with the equality of all the languages of its members the use of Slovenian language in the realm of law depends largely on the quality of the legal terminology, enabling a reliable insight into the legal system of the European Union and its efficient use.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2014,
2015,
2016,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2014,
2015,
2016,
final report
