This thesis deals primarily with the participative function of the interpreter of the law as it is acknowledged except by the classical doctrine that is more inclined to see the intention of the lawmaker as the absolute determinant. Referring to the various stages in the meaning-making process through the creation of the hermeneutical circle, we analyze the classical doctrine and, while dealing with interpretation of the law under the hermeneutical approach, we put forward and explain the very conditions where the legal phenomenon appears at the level of the autonomy of the text and of its reception. This thesis also intends to assess the impact of the construction and enforcement constraints regarding the law. How, in the course of the meaning-making process, is legal interpretation built and enriched by the values and rules which govern law-making? To analyze and characterize the role of the judge in the making of the meaning of the law with a specific approach inspired by phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics, we have chosen the area of language rights. The analysis of the empirical data that was gathered enables us to see, beyond the predetermination and the co-determination of the meaning of the law, where over-determination is headed (a specific concept of the "systemal analysis" theory under which the meaning of the law also emerges by reference to the value system permeating the representation of the reality of the law) and therefore to concretely illustrate its very expressions. First approached from the perspectives of history, of the founding principles and of the issues related to the linguistic duality, the linguistic case law is specifically reviewed in the context of linguistic minority rights and of the representation of preferred values. An analysis of submissions filed by the parties and the interveners in linguistic rights cases shows the major role played by identity-related values in the reviewed interventions. The analysis of the Court's responsiveness and the interpretation of judges then confirm the existence of an over-determination. This theoretical exploration allows us to have a reasoned representation of the judge's role in the making of meaning in law through the three stages of the hermeneutical circle---understanding, interpretation, application---that are combined in a circular and anticipatory process aiming at revealing the constitutive elements of the legal text. The empirical analysis confirms the influence of the recipient and interpreter of the law on the meaning which leads it to become a legal phenomenon.