Language is central to the nature of law. For that reason, law may be regarded as a semiotic system. Legal semiotics appear to provide an attractive point of departure for interdisciplinary research and may offer an interesting contribution, from a new point of view, to the issues of the law’s efficacy and legitimacy. This collection of lectures is based upon a colloquium on the theme “Semiotics and Legislation” held on September 26, 1997. The open forum at this colloquium provided the participants with the opportunity to find out whether these approaches to legal communication significantly overlap at critical junctures or diverge at important points. In this way, the collected lectures allow for a complementarity of views that prelude a much-needed comprehensive picture of the theory of legal communication. CONTENTS: Bernard S. Jackson, “Legislation in the Semiotics of Law” Willem J. Witteveen, “Significant, Symbolic, and Symphonic Laws” John Bell, “Statutes, Legal Texts and Operational Enactments” John Griffiths, “Legal Knowledge and the Social Working of Law: the Case of Euthanasia” Bert CGJ. van Roermund, “Legislative Voices. A Rousseauist Note on Legal Pluralism” Dennis Kurzon, “A Speech Act Approach to ‘Dead Letter’ Legislation” Dick W.P. Ruiter, “Legislation and Legal Institutions” Wouter G. Werner, “Judicial Legislation. The European Court of Justice as Institutional Landscaper” Hanneke van Schooten, “Instrumental Legislation and Communication Theories” Published by Deborah Charles Publications