On the (in)correctness of the terminology of the law of succession in the Polish and German legal languages by the example of selected terms. A critical study

The linguistic image of the world, constituting the way of perceiving the world conditioned by a given culture and reflected in its language, and the communicative function of language, may constitute the basis for inquiries as to whether – and possibly to what extent – a given concept used in the act of communication reflects the speaker's intention and corresponds to the reflection of an image of the concept in his/her consciousness and whether the word expressed by the communicator evokes the same – or at least a similar – image in the consciousness of the recipient of the transmitted message.

The importance of this issue is emphasized in particular with regard to a legal language, where the precision of expression should be the legislator’s primary aspiration. This article is an attempt to answer the question as to whether the terms of the Polish and German language of inheritance law always reflect the content they are meant to describe, or whether there are words in these languages ​​that on the linguistic level point to a different legal content than the one they are supposed to convey according to lawmakers. The article presents the results of the analysis of selected concepts describing the institutions of inheritance law in terms of their reference function to the linguistic worldview reflected in them.

Keywords: inheritance law, Polish legal language, German legal language, linguistic worldview.