Forensic rhetoric, as coined in Aristotle'sOn Rhetoric, encompasses any discussion of past action including legal discourse—the primary setting for the emergence of rhetoric as a discipline and theory. This contrasts with deliberative rhetoric and epideictic rhetoric, which are reserved for discussions concerning future and present actions respectively. In contemporary times, the wordforensic is commonly associated with criminal and civil law referring specifically to forensic science. It is important to note that the term forensic associated with criminal investigation exists because forensic rhetoric first existed.
Early connection between law and rhetoric
According to George A. Kennedy, rhetoric emerged as a response to legal freedoms introduced in Greece around 467BC. "Citizens found themselves involved in litigation... and were forced to take up their own cases before the courts. A few clever Sicilians developed simple techniques for effective presentation and argumentation in the law courts and taught them to others." Thus, trained capacity in speech-making and the theory about such speech-making exists because of legal exigencies. The Stasis Doctrine, proposed by Hermagoras, is an approach to systematically analyze legal cases, which many scholars include in their treatises of rhetoric, most famously in Cicero's "De Inventione." Encyclopedia author James Jasinski describes this doctrine as taxonomy to classify relevant questions in a debate and the existence or nonexistence of a fact in law. The Stasis Doctrine is incorporated in rhetoric handbooks today.
Traditional connection between law and rhetoric
Since forensic rhetoric's original purpose was to win courtroom cases, legal aids have been trained in it since legal freedoms emerged. Because in early law courts, citizens were expected to represent themselves and training in forensic rhetoric was very beneficial. In ancient Athens, litigants in a private law suit and defendants in a criminal prosecution were expected to handle their own case before the court – a practice that Aristotle approved of. The hearings would consist of questions addressed to the litigant/defendant and were asked by a member of the Court, or the litigants could ask one another; these circumstances did not call for legal or oratorical talent – therefore oratory or legalism was not expected, encouraged, or appreciated. After the time of Solon, the Court of Areopagus was replaced and the litigant/defendant would deliver a prepared speech before the courts to try and sway the jury; they expected dramatic and brilliant oratorical displays. Now, listeners appreciated oratorical and even legalistic niceties, such as appeals to passion, piety, and prejudice. It was at this point in Athens history where the forensic speech-writer made his first appearance. The speech-writer would prepare an address which the litigant/defendant memorized and delivered before the court. Forensic speech-writing and oratory soon became an essential part of general rhetoric. After the nineteenth century, forensic rhetoric "became the exclusive province of lawyers,” as it essentially remains today. These people were experts in the court system and dominated forensic rhetoric, since it is tied to past events—thus the relationship between law and rhetoric was solidified.
Contemporary connection between law and rhetoric
The critical legal studies movement occurred because as John L. Lucaites, a prominent author on the subject, concluded both legal studies and rhetorical scholars desire to demystify complex law discourse. His task was to "explore how 'the law'—conceptualized as a series of institutional procedures and relationships—functions within a larger 'rhetorical culture'." Author James Boyd White cultivated the law and literature movement, promoting the relationship between law and rhetoric at the constitutive level of discourse. The name law and literature relates to both the study of law in literature and law as literature. This movement asserts that the process of interpretation, both in law and literature, is rhetorical: "interpretation is a process of constructing arguments and the meaning of a text emerges through rhetorical interaction."
