"ambiguity"
and "vagueness" are two important concepts for
the theory of interpretation. Some legal texts are ambiguous--they can
have two or more distinct meanings. And some legal texts are vague--they
use concepts that have indefinite application to particular cases. And
some legal texts are both vague and ambiguous--they have multiple meanings,
some (or all) of which have indefinite applications. Therefore
knowing "vagueness"
and "ambiguity" are basic concepts in the theory of interpretation.
— A word is ambiguous if it has several distinct
senses.
— Example 1 (English):
1. I built a run for my chickens.
2. I go for a run before work.
3. I hit a home run during the cricket match.
Note: - 2 & 3 both involve the physical act of
running.
-
Example 1 has a specialised meaning
— In context, a word can seem to have several
distinct senses. Some may appear more related than others.
...and
for another example:
— There’s a mole in my garden
— mole1 = small, furry animal living
underground
— There’s a mole in the CIA
— mole2 = a spy
-
We can say that mole is 2-ways ambiguous
-
So run is 2-ways ambiguous (2 senses)
-
Ambiguity:
o
In this case, the context will select one of the meanings/senses
o
We often don’t even notice ambiguity, because context clarifies the
intended meaning.
-
Vagueness:
o
Context adds information to the sense.
o
Therefore the sense of the word itself doesn’t contain all the information.
o
It is underspecified.
Tests for ambiguity and vagueness
— There are some tests to decide whether
meaning distinctions involve ambiguity or vagueness.
— The do-so test of meaning identity
— The synonymy or sense-relations test
— The do-so test:
-
I ate a sandwich and
Mary
— The do-so construction is interpreted
as identical to the preceding verb phrase
-
I made a run and so did Priscilla
— If “I made a run” = “I ran”, then Priscilla
cannot have made a run for her chickens...
— So, again, these are two distinct senses of run.
— ambiguity (several word senses) and vagueness
(single sense, with slight variations in context)
The sense relations test
— Basic principle:
— Words exhibit synonymy or similarity of
meaning to other words.
— Therefore, if a word is ambiguous, we can
substitute it for a similar word in the same context, and see if the meaning
stays
roughly the same.
Sense relations examples
i.e:
- I go
for a run every morning.
— - I go for a jog every morning.
run1 = physical act of running (similar word: jog)
However
it cannot be :
·
I go for an enclosure every morning.
run2 = a closed space for animals (similar word: enclosure)
We can’t substitute one set of words for
another and still keep the same meaning.
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