Picturing judicial authority: an investigation of visual metadiscourse on court websites of China, Britain and France

This study examines the visual construction of judicial authority on the websites of the Supreme People’s Court of China, the UK Supreme Court and the French Court of Cassation. Drawing on De Groot et al.’s visual metadiscourse framework (De Groot et al., ‘Picture This: Developing a Model for the Analysis of Visual Metadiscourse’, 2016), Kress and Van Leeuwen’s visual grammar and content analysis ( Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design , 2021[1996]), the authors develop an integrated approach to analyse how visual elements reinforce judicial authority. Additionally, Scott’s institutional legitimacy theory ( Institutions and Organizations , 1995) is employed to identify the underlying authority model of each court. Findings reveal distinct configurations shaped by divergent legal cultures: the Chinese court website reflects a state-oriented, tradition-modernity coupled model, integrating national symbols, cultural heritage and modern legal norms; the French court website presents a normative–institutional model, grounded in republican values and historical continuity; and the British court website exemplifies an historical–continuity model, rooted in tradition and the constitutional monarchy.