A word about language in Serbian judiciary

Abstract

The intention of the author of this paper is to point out linguistic mistakes that frequently occur in legal acts in Serbian Judiciary in order to avoid them and to pay more attention to the use of language. Language is main tool of the legal profession, especially when it comes to judges who interpret in their decisions the law and make it comprehensible for citizens. Therefore, their statements have to be clear and precise, exempt of bureaucratic expressions. In this paper, he analyzes the language in randomly choosen legal acts of Serbian courts, starting from the First Basic Court in Belgrade up to the Court of Appeal in Belgrade and the former Supreme Court of Serbia. In times of expansion of Criminal Law, where provisions of law are badly expressed in both technical and substantial sense, often changed and not well thought through, it is highly necessary to enhance the language culture in order to enhance her reputation as well. The use of language is, among other problems in Serbian Judiciary, not the most imporatnt issue. Nevertheless, is remains an essential part of it and deserves more attention.