Legal interpretation and coherence

Bartosz Broeżk

pp. 113-122

in: Michał Araszkiewicz, Jaromír Šavelka (eds), Coherence, Berlin, Springer, 2013

Abstract

This essay has three interrelated goals. First, I venture to show that some insights from hermeneutic philosophy pertaining to the process of interpretation may be rendered clearer and more explicit with the use of contemporary logical tools. Second, I attempt to construct an analytic theory of legal interpretation (and interpretation in general) and posit that such a framework forces one to take advantage of the criterion of coherence. Finally, I claim that interpretation only plays an auxiliary role in legal reasoning.