Approaching (in)determinacy and ultimacy in interpretation

Statutory interpretation is required due to the ubiquity of indeterminacy, shaped and controlled by discourses of ultimacy in various legal contexts. This chapter engages with the question as to how the phenomenon of indeterminacy hinges on discourses of ultimacy in the law. It argues that indeterminacies may be understood in relation to social interaction as well as discursive and semiotic patterns and practices. The process of identifying which aspects in legal practice can be regarded as indeterminate and how indeterminacies should be offset are not detached from but are modulated by stancetaking, evaluation and ideology. This chapter argues that dispositifs order discursive practice, and in doing so they enable and limit individuals when they engage with or in spite of indeterminacies in perception or production. It concludes that discourses of ultimacy may be one, but not the only enabling and limiting force operative in the goal-directedness of legal practice.