Cover not available
Part of
Handbook of Terminology: Volume 3. Legal Terminology
Edited by Łucja Biel and Hendrik J. Kockaert
[Handbook of Terminology 3] 2023
► pp. 244–270

Legal terminology of the European Union

This chapter addresses EU (European Union) language and terminology, commencing with the EU legal context. EU law constitutes a legal order created by agreement between Member States under international law. This legal order creates the context for terms, with legal texts as the sites of engagement, each containing different domains of terminology. The EU legal order is multilingual, and each text comprises a single multilingual message. This singularity generates pressure towards equivalence in meaning with consequences for drafting, translation, and terminology. Implications and examples are drawn from environmental law. Meanings are determined by the Court of Justice of the European Union. EU legal language and terminology is amenable to analysis through the use of corpora. Terminological information is recorded and diffused via IATE.
Keywords: legal terminology, EU, lexicography, corpora, IATE
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.EU legal order
    • 2.1EU legal order
    • 2.2EU agreements
    • 2.3EU legal order as context for terms
    • 2.4EU legal texts as sites of engagement
  • 3.Terminology domains in EU legislative texts
    • 3.1EU drafting
    • 3.2Multilingualism
    • 3.3Environmental law: A recent field of law
  • 4.Formation of legal terminology
    • 4.1Terminology and the CJEU
    • 4.2Corpora and legal terminology in the EU context
    • 4.3IATE
      • 4.3.1History of the model
      • 4.3.2Problems with the model
        • 1.A lack of reliability
        • 2.Problems involving the ownership of terms
        • 3.Gaps in the coverage
        • 4.Duplication of entries
        • 5.Difficulties sourcing terms, references and definitions
      • 4.3.3IATE 2
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC BY-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 1 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hot.3.leg2
References (90)
References
Baaij, Cornelis. 2012. “Fifty Years of Multilingual Interpretation in the EU.” In The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law, edited by Lawrence Solan and Peter Tiersma, 217–231. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015. Integration and Diversity in EU Translation. PhD diss., Universiteit van Amsterdam.
. 1996. “Corpus-based Translation Studies: the Challenges That Lie Ahead.” In Terminology, LSP & Translation, edited by Harold Somers, 175–186. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1999. “The Role of Corpora in Investigating the Linguistic Behaviour of Professional Translators.” International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 4(2):281–298. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berteloot, Pascale. 1988. “Babylone à Luxembourg, jurilinguistique à la Cour de justice.” In Vorträge, Reden und Berichte aus dem Europa-Institut, 136, edited by Georg Ress and Michael Will, 1–32. Saarbrücken: Vortrag vor dem Europa-Institut der Universität des Saarlandes.Google Scholar
. 2000. “La traduction juridique dans l’Union européenne, en particulier à la Cour de Justice.” [URL]
Bettati, Mario. 2012. Le droit international de l’environnement. Paris: Odile Jakob.Google Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay Kumar, Nicola Langton, and Jane Lung. 2004. “Legal Discourse: Opportunities and Threats for Corpus Linguistics.” In Discourse in the Professions: Perspectives from Corpus Linguistics, edited by Ulla Connor and Thomas Upton, 203–231. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bhreathnach, Úna, Fionnuala Cloke, and Caoilfhionn Nic Pháidín. 2013. Terminology for the European Union. The Irish Experience: The GA IATE Project. Fiontar: Dublin City University. Online at: [URL]
Biel, Łucja. 2010. “Corpus-Based Studies of Legal Language for Translation Purposes: Methodological and Practical Potential.” In Reconceptualising LSP. On-line Proceedings of the XVII European LSP Symposium 2009, edited by Carmen Heine and Jan Engberg, 1–15. Aarhus: Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University.Google Scholar
. 2014. Lost in the Eurofog. The Textual Fit of Translated Law. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. “Enhancing the communicative dimension of legal translation: comparable corpora in the research-informed classroom.” The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 11(4):316–336. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biel, Łucja, and Agnieszka Doczekalska. 2020. “How do supranational terms transfer into national legal systems? A corpus-informed study of EU English terminology in consumer protection directives and UK, Irish and Maltese transposing acts.” Terminology 26(2):184–212.Google Scholar
Birnie, Patricia, Alan Boyle, and Catherine Redgwell. 2009. International Law and the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Charaudeau, Patrick. 2009. “Dis-moi quel est ton corpus, je te dirai quelle est ta problématique.” Revue Corpus 8:37–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Lamberterie, Isabelle. 2005. “Quel droit d’auteur pour les dictionnaires et autres travaux de jurilinguistique?” In Jurilinguistique: entres langues et droits / Jurilinguistics: between Law and Language, edited by Jean-Claude Gémar and Nicholas Kasirer, 363–376. Montréal: Thémis/Bruylant.Google Scholar
Degand, Liesbeth and Yves Bestgen. 2004. “Connecteurs et analyses de corpus : de l’analyse manuelle à l’analyse automatisée.” In L’unité texte (Actes du colloque ‘Regards croisés sur l’Unité texte/Conjoint Perspectives on Text, Chypre, 18, 19, 20 mars 2004, edited by Sylvie Porhiel and Dominique Klingler, 49–73. Cyprus: Perspectives.Google Scholar
Derlen, Mattias. 2009. Multilingual Interpretation of European Union Law. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Devinat, Mathieu. 2014. “Dictionary Use at the Supreme Court of Canada: Establishing Meaning in a Bilingual and Bijural Context.” In Legal Lexicography: A Comparative Perspective, edited by Máirtín Mac Aodha, 201–221. London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Doczekalska, Agnieszka. 2018. “Legal Languages in Contact: EU Legislative Drafting and Its Consequences for Judicial Interpretation.” In Language and Law. The Role of Language and Translation in EU Competition Law, edited by Silvia Marino, Łucja Biel, Martina Bajčić and Vilelmini Sosoni, 163–178. Cham: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
European Commission. “Better Regulation Toolbox.” Online at: [URL]
European Union. 2015. Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for persons involved in the drafting of European Union legislation. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Online at: [URL]
. 2022. Interinstitutional Style Guide. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Online at: [URL]
Forst, Rainer. 2018. Normativity and Power: Analyzing Social Orders of Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Franck, Vincent, Jean Mischo, Serge N. Schroeder, and Marc Sünnen. 2002. Le droit de l’environnement devant ses juges. Luxembourg: Éditions Promoculture.Google Scholar
Gallas, Tito and Manuela Guggeis. 2005. “La traduction juridique dans l’expérience des juristes linguistes du Conseil de l’Union européenne.” In Jurilinguistique : entre langues et droits. Jurilinguistics: Between Law and Language, edited by Jean-Claude Gémar and Nicholas Kasirer, 491–504. Montréal: Thémis/Bruylant.Google Scholar
General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. 2002. Manual of precedents for acts established within the Council of the European Union. Online at: [URL]
Goffin, Roger. 1994. “L’eurolecte: oui, jargon communautaire: non.” Meta 39(4):636–642. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goltzberg, Stefan. 2016. “La définition comme procédé stratégique.” In Dicodex. Réflexions sur les définitions juridiques codifiées, edited by José Lefebvre, 141–155. Amiens: Ceprisca.Google Scholar
Goźdź-Roszkowski, Stanisław and Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka. 2011. “Legal Terminology: Approaches and Applications. Editorial to Special Issue on Legal Terminology.” Research in Language 9(1):5–6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hardt-Mautner, Gerlinde. 1995. Only Connect. Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics. UCREL Technical Paper 6. Lancaster: University of Lancaster.Google Scholar
Hutton, Chris. 2009. Language, Meaning and the Law. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Jans, Jan and Hans Vedder. 2012. European Environmental Law: After Lisbon. Groningen: Europa Law Publishing.Google Scholar
Johnson, Ian and Alastair MacPhail. 2000. “IATE – Inter-Agency Terminology Exchange: Development of a Single Central Terminology Database for the Institutions and Agencies of the European Union.” LREC 2000, [URL]
Kjær, Anne Lise. 2007. “Legal translation in the European Union: A research field in need of a new approach.” In Language and the Law: International Outlooks, edited by Krzysztof Kredens and Stanisław Goźdź-Roszkowski, 69–95. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Krämer, Ludwig. 2012. EU Environmental Law. London: Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
L’Homme, Marie-Claude. 2020. “Introduction.” Terminology 26(1):1–6.Google Scholar
Lavault-Olléon, Elisabeth, and Francis Grossmann. 2008. “Langue du droit et harmonisation terminologique multilingue : l’exemple de LexALP.” Revue de linguistique et de didactique des langues 38:11–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
LegisWrite User Guide. [URL]
Lerat, Pierre. 2014. “Pour les dictionnaires juridiques multilingues du citoyen de l’Union européenne.” In Legal Lexicography: A Comparative Perspective, edited by Máirtín Mac Aodha, 89–102. London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Mac Aodha, Máirtín. 2018. Lexicographie, traduction et langues minoritaires : le cas de l’irlandais au sein de l’Union européenne. PhD diss., Université de Strasbourg.
Magen, Stefan. 2015. “Philosophy of Law.” In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Ed., edited by James D. Wright, 24–30. Elsevier: Orlando. [URL]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maingueneau, Dominique. 1996. Les termes clés de l’analyse du discours. Paris: Seuil, coll. Mémo.Google Scholar
Mori, Laura. 2018. Observing Eurolects. Corpus analysis of linguistic variation in EU law. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mouritsen, Stephen. 2017. “Corpus Linguistics in Legal Interpretation. An Evolving Interpretative Framework.” International Journal of Language and Law 6:67–89. [URL]Google Scholar
. 2019. “Contract Interpretation with Corpus Linguistics.” Washington Law Review 94:1337–1418. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nowag, Julian. 2018. “Article 11 TFEU and Environmental Rights.” In Environmental Rights in Europe and Beyond, edited by Sanja Bogojević and Rosemary Rayfuse, 155–174. Oxford: Hart. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ó Lúing, Seán. 1976. In Ardchathair na hEorpa. Dublin: Sáirséal agus Dill.Google Scholar
Ost, François. 2009. Traduire. Défense et illustration du multilinguisme. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Paunio, Elina. 2007. “The tower of Babel and the interpretation of EU law. Implications for equality of languages and legal certainty.” In Private Law and the Many Cultures of Europe, edited by Thomas Wilhelmsson, Elina Paunio & Annika Pohjolainen, 385–402. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
. 2013. Legal Certainty in Multilingual EU Law: Language, Discourse and Reasoning at the European Court of Justice. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Pearson, Jennifer. 1998. Terms in Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pimentel, Janine. 2015. “Using Frame Semantics to build a bilingual lexical resource on legal terminology.” In Handbook of Terminology, edited by Hendrik Kockaert and Frieda Steurs, 427–450. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prieto Ramos, Fernando. 2019. “The use of corpora in legal and institutional translation studies: Directions and applications.” Translation Spaces 8(1):1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 1980. The Concept of a Legal System: An Introduction to the Theory of a Legal System. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. From Normativity to Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robertson, Colin. 2009. “Multilingual Law: What is it? How is it made? How is it Used and Applied? (with reference to EU practice).” In Curriculum, Multilingualism and the Law, edited by Lelija Sočanac, Christopher Goddard and Ludger Kremer, 373–395. Zagreb: Globus.Google Scholar
. 2011. “Multilingual legislation in the European Union. EU and national legislative-language styles and terminology.” Research in Language 9(1):51–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. “EU Legal English: Common Law, Civil Law, or a New Genre?” European Review of Private Law 20(5/6):1215–1239. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012a. “The Problem of Meaning in Multilingual EU Legal Texts.” International Journal of Law, Language & Discourse 2(1):1–30.Google Scholar
. 2013. “How the EU functions in 23 languages.” SYNAPS 28:14–32.Google Scholar
. 2017. “EU Multilingual Law: Interfaces of Law, Language and Culture.” In Language and Culture in EU Law, edited by Susan Šarčević, 33–52. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ruggieri, Francesca, ed. 2014. Criminal Proceedings, Languages and the European Union, Linguistic and Legal Issues. Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Šarčević, Susan, ed. 2001. Legal Translation: Preparation for Accession to the European Union. Rijeka: University of Rijeka.Google Scholar
. 2004. “Creating EU Legal Terms: Internationalisms vs. Localisms.” In Terminologija v času globalizacije / Terminology at the Time of Globalization, edited by Marjeta Humar, 129–138. Ljubljana: ZRC SAZU.Google Scholar
Schübel-Pfiste, Isabel. 2004. Sprache und Gemeinschaftsrecht: die Auslegung der mehrsprachig verbindlichen Rechtstexte durch den Europäischen Gerichtshof. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swinnen, Ingrid. 2010. “Terminology for translation at the Council of the EU.” [URL]
Temmerman, Rita. 2000. Towards New Ways of Terminology Description: the Sociocognitive Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Treaty on European Union, OJ C 326 , 26.10.2012, p. 13–390. Online at: [URL]
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, OJ C 326 , 26.10.2012, p. 47–390. Online at: [URL]
Vidick, Jean-Luc and Christine Defrise. 1999. Interinstitutional Terminology Database: Feasibility Study. Atos: Brussels.Google Scholar
Williams, Geoffrey. 2003. “From Meaning to Words and Back: Corpus Linguistics and Specialised Lexicography.” Asp 39–40:91–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woodland, Philippe. 1991. “Spécificité et ambigüités du langage du droit communautaire.” In Le langage du droit, edited by Leon Ingber and Patrick Vassart, 87–105. Bruxelles: Nemes.Google Scholar
Ziegler, Katja S. 2013. “The Relationship between EU Law and International Law.” University of Leicester School of Law Research Paper 15–04. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cases
Case 26/62. NV Algemene Transporten Expeditie Onderneming van Gend en. Loos v. Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen [1963], ECR 1.Google Scholar
Case 21/79. Commission v. L’Italie [1980], ECR 115.Google Scholar
Case 240/83. Procureur de la République v Association de défense des brûleurs d’huiles usagées (ADBHU) [1985], ECR 531.Google Scholar
Case C-189/01. Jippes a. o. v Minister van Landbouw, Natuurbeheer en Visserij [2001], ECR I-5689.Google Scholar
Case C-90/16. Judgment of 26 October 2017. The English Bridge Union Limited v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs. ECLI:EU:C:2017:814.
Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser, [2004] 1 S.C.R. 902, 2004 SCC 34.Google Scholar
Websites
Accession Treaties. EUR-Lex, [URL]
Court of Justice of the European Union, [URL]
EUR-Lex, [URL]
European Union. The History of the European Union: [URL]
. EU Accession Process Step by Step: [URL]
European Parliament Terminology coordination: [URL]
Learn Europe, online at: [URL]