A Comprehension of Law between Metaphor and Concept

Abstract

I seek in this essay to present the notion of law not as a concept, but as a metaphor. Methodologically taken, the work consists in a rhetorical analysis by which I try to make explicit the rhetorical and metaphorical character of fundamental expressions in Modern legal thinking. I must conclude that those expressions do not admit a literal paraphrase, and that the practical or theoretical jurist is constrained to learn how to deal with law’s metaphors instead of just trying to substitute them for a literalized conceptual language. Therefore, I understand that the dogmatic work would be in some measure a rhetorical practice not only in respect to the argumentation but also in reference to the competence related to the elocutio or léxis.