Developing a legal theory around the meaning of a single word chosen more than two centuries ago by the framers of the Constitution’s First Amendment is the subject of a new book by UF Law professor and First Amendment expert Charles Collier.
Meaning in Law: A Theory of Speech (Oxford University Press) is broadly interdisciplinary and employs philosophy and linguistics to focus on symbolic speech, which lies at the important definitional boundary between speech in the full sense and that which is not speech at all.
Collier’s main interest in speech is not merely historical or etymological, as the book’s Introduction makes clear: “If there is to be a definition, then there should be a theory; and 'speech,' in its common acceptation, has always been too broad and universal a concept to be reduced to a mere legal term of art.”
The opening chapters of this book retrace the main conceptual stages in the expression of meaning: from natural meaning, through symbolism, to signification. Subsequent chapters focus on three failed attempts to demarcate the outer, definitional boundaries of “speech” in the constitutional sense: prior restraints, obscenity, and defamation.
“In the legal context ‘speech’ is whatever the courts say it is; but I do not think that is a very important sense,” Collier said. “In fact, it is very important not to think this way, because then all the natural, logical associations that might inform a general theory of speech are hostage to the peculiarities of legal doctrine.”
Dennis Patterson, Rutgers University Board of Governors Professor of Law and Philosophy, and chair in Legal Theory and Legal Philosophy at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, says Collier’s book is required reading for those interested in the meaning of free speech.
“Meaning in Law: A Theory of Speech is a marvelous achievement,” Patterson said. “This is a brilliant work of scholarship with a commanding grasp of legal doctrine and philosophical theory.”
For more information on Meaning in Law: A Theory of Speech visit www.oup.com/us/.
