In this paper, the issue of when we can justifiably start talking about the presence of Slovene in historical legal contexts is presented as an example of an interdisciplinary topic. Two usual presumptions among other disciplines about law are explained as the main conceptual obstacles: first, that "all law is in the code", implying that legal texts are the only source for the analysis of legal language, and second, that law has been from time immemorial created only by the state. It is shown that a crucial role in the development and preservation of the key Slovene legal terms can be attributed to the court gatherings of the autonomous medieval communities, in the context of prevailing orality, and that what can be credited with a similar role nowadays is the main hearing in the scope of court proceedings.
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