Intertextual relations in the judgment of the court of appeal

The relevance of the research on intertextual relations in legal discourse is due to the growing interest in the legal language functions, criticism of its complexity and an important role legal language acquires in professional communication and social relations. The article looks into intertextual relations of a particular legal genre, the court of appeal judgment, with the view of analyzing intertextual devices, their linguistic forms, and various functions they perform in the text and discourse. The notion of intertextuality and its use in specialized discourse have been considered from discourse analysis perspective, its theory and methods, focusing on linguistic and social aspects, taking into account both explicit and implicit manifestation of intertextuality. The studies revealed that intertextual relations are very complicated and intensive and are basic to the drafting of the court judgment. They impact the structure of the text of the court of appeal judgment. Some intertextual devices typical of this genre are not found in other genres, some devices acquire specific forms and functions. The research outcomes bear academic and practical relevance for educators, law specialists and translators, providing insight into the linguistic and semantic structuring of legal texts and tools for the text of court judgment analysis and translation. © 2018, Slovenska Vzdelavacia Obstaravacia. All rights reserved.