Democratizing access to justice: the comic contract as intersemiotic translation

Abstract

Traditionally, legal documents such as contracts are verbally drafted by lawyers for other lawyers to read. However, it is highly desirable that the clients also understand their contents. The verbal format may be problematic if the parties do not have a common language or if they are unable to understand the legal jargon. For this reason, advocates of legal design have suggested that the contents of conventional legal documents could be presented in visual format. This paper aims to introduce one example of legal design, the comic contract, in which the verbal and visual modes interact. It discusses the process of transforming traditional legal documents into comics, which can be considered a kind of intersemiotic translation, and asks whether this format in fact improves the intelligibility and accessibility of legal documents.

Sociolinguistic Variation in Urban Linguistic Landscapes

“…The process is thus both inter-semiotic and intralingual (cf. Jakobson 1959;Pitkäsalo & Kalliomaa-Puha 2019).…”

”Valvotun vaihdon säännöt” -sarjakuvasopimus multimodaalisena genrenä asiakkaan ja työntekijän välistä toimintaa rakentamassa

“…Erityisen haastavia ne voivat olla suomea toisena tai vieraana kielenä puhuville asiakkaille. On kuitenkin tärkeää, että asiakas ymmärtää asiakirjan merkityksen ja sen, mihin palveluihin hän on oikeutettu (Pitkäsalo & Kalliomaa-Puha 2019). Sarjakuvallistaminen on yksi keino havainnollistaa sosiaalihuollon asiakirjojen kieltä ja sisältöä: sarjakuvamuotoinen teksti voi auttaa ketä tahansa ymmärtämään paremmin asiakirjoja ja niihin liittyvää toimintaa sekä tehdä viestinnästä saavutettavaa.…”

Transaction design standards for the operationalisation of fairness and empowerment in proactive contracting

“…Improving the accessibility to the legal system inspires legal design thinking and is often invoked by the legal design community. 36 A central claim consists on that human centredness 37 helps prevent 38 and resolve legal problems, 39 satisfy some legal needs, and increase access to justice. This vision is accompanied by a view on empowerment.…”