The Relationship between Language, Power, and Law

Mutoni Uwase N.

Faculty of Business and Management Kampala International University Uganda

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the intricate relationship between language, power, and law through interdisciplinary lenses, tracing historical and contemporary trajectories across legal systems, judicial processes, and sociopolitical contexts. Language is examined not only as a medium of legal communication but also as a tool of social control, identity construction, and power negotiation. Through theoretical analysis, historical case studies, and contemporary challenges including multilingualism, legal accessibility, digital communication, and identity politics the study reveals how linguistic practices in law shape legal meaning, reinforce or resist authority, and mediate justice. The paper emphasizes the significance of legal translation, the performativity of legal language, and the sociocultural dimensions embedded within legal texts. It argues for a communicative and interdisciplinary approach that bridges linguistics and legal studies, proposing that more equitable, transparent, and inclusive legal systems require attention to the language through which they operate. The work concludes by outlining future directions for research and practice in an evolving legal-linguistic landscape increasingly shaped by technology and globalization.

Keywords: Legal Language, Power Dynamics, Linguistic Justice, Legal Translation, Multilingualism and Law, Judicial Discourse, Sociolinguistics.

CITE AS: Mutoni Uwase N. (2025). The Relationship between Language, Power, and Law. NEWPORT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT ISSUES IN ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 6(1):128-133. https://doi.org/10.59298/NIJCIAM/2025/6.1.128133