Language of Justice in India: Needs a revitalisation from complexity to simplicity
Author(s): Dr. Kusum Chauhan
Abstract: Communication of justice is as important as the determination of justice. This recognition is imperative to ensure the integrity of our legal system. We have seen that how regional languages as also Hindi have been marginalized by not giving them any place of prominence by allowing the status quo of English to continue uninterrupted and undiminished since last more than 73 years. The complexity of statutory language has made the legal system incomprehensible to the common man. The linguistic barrier is area of concern in India with respect to accessing law, court, procedure, and adjudication. The language barrier limits the understanding of the lay man regarding his rights, exacerbates lack of awareness and effectively prevents them from accessing the justice system. The language of justice seems tedious and verbose. A reader is compelled to consult a legal expert to recover meaning from the syntactic labyrinth. There is a need to make legal language comprehensible to ordinary people. In this paper an attempt has been made to highlight the fundamental importance of adequate plain language services in providing access to justice. This paper touches upon the complexity and linguistic issues encountered within the legal domain acknowledged by the legislature and higher judiciary. Perhaps measures to remedy this situation involve some amount of introspection by the legislature and higher judiciary, and we may optimistically hope that the acknowledgement that the problem exists may be the first step towards solving it.
Dr. Kusum Chauhan. Language of Justice in India: Needs a revitalisation from complexity to simplicity. Int J Adv Acad Stud 2022;4(4):50-57. DOI: 10.33545/27068919.2022.v4.i4a.912
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