Why Legal Language Is Static

3 In the colonial era of the Portuguese and Spanish, the legal title of papal scholarship prevailed, but with the rise of the great Protestant colonial powers Holland and England, this title had to give way to ius primae occupationis; The condition of actual occupation replaced the alleged title of the discovery. According to modern linguistics, languages are not static, but develop (see Language Evolution). For example, most languages spoken in Europe today evolved from a common ancestor (Proto-Indo-European language). This makes the code robust because type checking is done at compile time. Static languages can have a slow development cycle due to an additional compilation step. In addition, the type of data is already known when accessing a variable, which avoids additional checks. JavaScript, Ruby, and PHP are examples of dynamically typed languages. The antithesis between static law and dynamic law of nations, as used in this article, means the distinction between international law that primarily pursues the static goal of maintaining the status quo, which does not contain rules for its own change through a peaceful and orderly process, and international law. that provides rules for its own change. Of course, even a static law can never stop historical development in a world governed by the supreme rule of change, but this dynamic development will in many cases be caused by the violation of static law, by violent methods – revolution within, war in international law. On the other hand, no legal system can be exclusively dynamic, since the maintenance of the law in force is a necessary condition for legal certainty. Dynamic law is based on a balance between static rules, which provide security, and dynamic rules, which provide for the necessary change by peaceful methods in accordance with the law to be changed. The change here will not be the result of a revolution, but of an evolution brought about by the legal system itself.

47 “The General Act is therefore not a comprehensive system for the settlement of international disputes, although the idea that this is the case is probably the reason for the support it has received. But if these disputes are not to be “resolved” by the proposed procedure, what purpose should we consider as the purpose of submitting them to it? the legal situation in this category of disputes is often very clear” (British Year Book of International Law, 1930, p. 129). 13 The absence of an obligation lies not so much in the words `generally appropriate` as in the wording of Article XIII(1), according to which `Members agree that, whenever a dispute arises between them, which they consider appropriate to submit to arbitration or judicial settlement`. This descriptive approach to languages contrasts with the more traditional prescriptive grammar and/or prestigious linguistic varieties, suggesting that there is a “right” way to speak the language. In static languages, the type cannot be changed once a variable has been created. If a variable type is defined, only the value of the variable can be changed, but the type is static and cannot be changed. That is, if we define an integer, we can only update its value and not assign it a different data type. 30 Long before the League of Nations came into force, my professor of international law at the University of Vienna, Heinrich Lammasch, said that the goal of the development of international law must be to find a legal form to bring about change based on the development of nations.

Cf. G. G. Wilson, er. Quote.; Sir John Fischer Williams, op. cit. cit., p. 1: “An absolutely rigid framework is ultimately doomed to collapse and violent collapse.” Edwin M.

Borchard in his address on the Kellogg Pact at the Williamstown Institute of Politics on August 22, 1928: “The abolition of war will therefore have to be pursued in a different way. There is perhaps more hope in eliminating the causes of economic conflict than in legal efforts to preserve the status quo by force. Other machines are needed to modify existing conditions if time and circumstances so require. In this sense, little attention has been paid so far. Politis, Les nouveUes tendances du droit international, Paris, 1927, p. 12; J. L. Brierly. I fully agree with the statement made by Edwin D. Dickinson at the last session of the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C., in April 1933, that what I call dynamic international law is the problem of the new international law. 11 For example, in the case of article XV, paragraph 7, of the Covenant.

These cases, where the use of war is lawful under the Covenant, are commonly referred to as its shortcomings. But it is clear that this is nothing more than a criticism; And for the reasons mentioned above in the text, not even an immanent, but transcendent criticism. Dialects, even accents (Southern accent vs. New England) are constantly changing, so I don`t think languages are static. 8 The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania declared in 1899: “Even the law of nations has the name. It has only one moral sanction, and the only court that commits to its enforcement is the armed hand, the ultima ratio regum. It is true that international law must be supported by force; But this application exists in the so-called war, which is a legal institution. C++, Java, Go, and C# are statically typed languages. Dynamic languages are usually not compiled, but interpreted.