CALIGULA, H.A.L, 1984, AND THE LEGACY OF JUSTICE

SCALIA:

HOW “CORPUS LINGUISTICS” MAY BE CHANGING THE INTERPRETATION OF

LEGAL TEXTSHuman Language Technology Conference

December 11, 2019

CALIGULA’S LAWS

▶ “By incorporating corpus methods

into the search for ordinary

meaning, we can turn a largely

intuitive and opaque inquiry into a

transparent one.”

Textualism: “The words of a governing text are of paramount concern, and what they convey in their context is what the text means.”

TRADITIONAL METHODS OF INTERPRETATION

Purpose-driven interpretations

What is corpus linguistics? The analysis of text through computing power . . .

Corpus Linguistics uses large-scale sets

of data to glean evidence of how words

are actually used. It’s an empirical

technique that arises from the advent of

huge amounts of digitized text and leaps

forward in computer power.

Smith v. United States (1993)

Does the phrase “uses . . . a firearm. . . .during and in relation to any drug trafficking crime” encompass trading a firearm for drugs?

Corpus Linguistics: The Promise

Three steps: 1. Structuring the query

2. Reviewing the results for relevance3. Reviewing surrounding words (“collocation data”) (“KWIC”)

Corpus Linguistics: The Critique

Corpus Linguistics: The Future