The Boundaries of Meaning and the Formation of Law: Legal Concepts and Reasoning in the English, Arabic, and Chinese Traditions »

Sharron Gu has taught history at Temple University. She is currently an independent researcher based in Canada.

Different legal systems share some basic developmental tendencies that are rooted in the historical evolution of language and culture. In this comparative history of English common law, Islamic law, and Chinese imperialist law Sharron Gu describes the formation of three diverse legal systems in terms of their unique linguistic environments. In this unique study of how language determines the structure of legal systems, Gu argues that the characteristics of each language define the nature of the common, statute, administrative, and religious laws associated with it and set the boundaries for its legal imagination.