Renskötselrätten
som rättslig konstruktion
This master thesis concerns the relation between law and the theory of the conceptual metaphor which has developed within cognitive linguistics. Although its main focus is abstract thinking, it also covers a wide range of aspects within cognitive linguistics, such as the prototype theory and radial categories. In order to address this relation, three questions will be dealt with. Firstly, does the theory of the conceptual metaphor have relevance to interpretation of legal rules and contracts? Secondly, can the same theory explain why a legal rule or a contractual term has been interpreted outside of its most given area of application? Thirdly, when an interpretation is not predictable from a legal viewpoint, can such an explanation answer to that fact? Answering the first question will require a descriptive analysis of the conceptual metaphor and cognitive linguistics. Furthermore, to respond to the second and the third question a legal and cognitive analysis of two court cases will be carried out (NJA 1993 s. 753 & NJA 2006 s. 53). The first case could hardly have been predicted from a traditional, legal viewpoint; the second case concerns a notoriously flexible contractual term in Swedish contract law: sudden, involuntary, external event (ofrivilligt genom en plötslig yttre händelse). In the end, the conceptual metaphor theory may shed some light upon this uncertainty.