The Law of Perjury: Theories of Lying in Practice

This research is aimed at characterizing the Dutch law of perjury with theories of lying as described by philosophers of language. In American law various inconsistencies of perjury cases led to research on the topic. Those studies all have concluded that lying and perjury differ greatly in several notable areas. Often discussed is the well-known perjury case of former US President Clinton. Research states Bill Clinton obviously was not speaking the truth, but he was never impeached with perjury. Possible explanations could be a political agenda or the lack of adequate evidence. This research paper will discuss the differences between the Dutch and American legal systems, as well as offering a critical analysis of why these systems differ. The central question in this research answers in what ways the Dutch law of perjury can be characterized by the pragmatic theories of lying. Four court cases, all different in outcome, will be linguistically analysed. The linguistic analysis...Show moreThis research is aimed at characterizing the Dutch law of perjury with theories of lying as described by philosophers of language. In American law various inconsistencies of perjury cases led to research on the topic. Those studies all have concluded that lying and perjury differ greatly in several notable areas. Often discussed is the well-known perjury case of former US President Clinton. Research states Bill Clinton obviously was not speaking the truth, but he was never impeached with perjury. Possible explanations could be a political agenda or the lack of adequate evidence. This research paper will discuss the differences between the Dutch and American legal systems, as well as offering a critical analysis of why these systems differ. The central question in this research answers in what ways the Dutch law of perjury can be characterized by the pragmatic theories of lying. Four court cases, all different in outcome, will be linguistically analysed. The linguistic analysis performed in this research is based on Grice’s maxims of Cooperation, Searle’s Speech Act theory, the provided definition of lying and the analytic tools as described by Shuy. This will provide various insights in the interpretation of the Dutch perjury law. Based on the results, this research paper concludes that lying cannot perfectly characterize the Dutch law of perjury, however, they cannot be fully separated from each other either. What this analysis clearly shows are the possibilities of a linguistic analysis when discussing perjury lawsuits. The discourse analysis can provide insights in someone’s intentions, as well as the weaknesses in someone’s statements. This paper strongly promotes the statement that using linguistic analyses is beneficial to the legal system, especially in court cases concerning crimes of language.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

The Law of Perjury: Theories of Lying in Practice