The term legal language, on the other hand, is a term associated with a traditional style of legal writing that is part of that specialized discourse of lawyers: communication that « lay readers cannot easily understand. » [4] This term describes legal drafting, which can be cluttered, wordy and indirect, and may contain unnecessary technical words or phrases. [5] Historically, legal language is language that a lawyer can use when drafting a contract or brief, but not in ordinary conversations. [6] For this reason, the traditional style of legal writing has been described as user-friendly. [5] Proponents of plain language argue that « the style of legal writing should not vary from task to task or audience to audience. ; Everything lawyers write should be clear, correct, concise and complete. [7] These four Cs describe the « characteristics of good legal drafting » in the United States. [7] In prehistoric Britain, traditional common law was discussed in the vernacular (see Celtic Law). Legal language and legal tradition changed with the waves of conquerors over the following centuries. Roman Britain (after the conquest of 43 AD) followed the Roman legal tradition and its legal language was Latin. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410 and the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, the dominant tradition was rather Anglo-Saxon law, discussed in colloquial Germanic language (Old English) and written in Old English since about 600, beginning with Æthelberht`s law. After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, French Anglo-Norman became the official language of the court in England for almost 300 years until the Pleading in English Act of 1362 (and remained in low use for another 300 years), while medieval Latin was used for written documents for over 650 years. However, some English technical terms have been retained (see Anglo-Saxon Law: Language and Dialect for more details). Get a good legal dictionary, such as the Oxford Dictionary of Law.
Anglo-French, from Latin legalis, from leg-, lex law As a result, non-English speaking lawyers and law students are increasingly seeking specialized training in legal English, and this training is now offered by law schools, language centres[15], private firms, and podcasts[16] that focus on legal language. The UK TOLES exam was set up to teach legal English to non-native speakers. The exams focus on those aspects of legal English that lawyers consider missing. [17] An annual conference on global legal skills has also been established to allow legal English teachers and other professionals to share information on teaching methods and materials. [18] Moreover, legal English is useful for its dramatic effect: for example, a subpoena forcing a witness to appear in court often ends with the archaic threat of « Do not fail, at your own risk »; « Danger » is not described (arrested and charged with contempt of court), but the formality of the language tends to have a stronger effect on the recipient of the summons than a simple statement such as « We can arrest you if you do not appear ». Legal English is traditionally reserved for lawyers from English-speaking countries (particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya and South Africa) who share common law traditions. Due to the spread of legal English as the dominant language of international affairs, as well as its role as a legal language within the European Union, legal English is now a global phenomenon. It can be informally called Lawsspeak. [ref. needed] In legal memoirs, Anglo-Norman developed into legal French, from which many words of modern legal English are derived. This includes property, estates, personal property, leases, executors and tenants. The use of French Law during this period had a lasting influence on the general linguistic register of modern legal English.
This usage also explains some of the complex linguistic structures used in legal drafting. In 1362, the Plea Statute was published, stipulating that all trials should be conducted in English (but Latin). This marked the beginning of formal legal English; French law was used in some forms until the 17th century, although French law was increasingly degenerate. As mentioned above, legal English is very different from standard English in many ways. The most important of these differences are: A good written knowledge of legal English is essential for lawyers. This means using the appropriate vocabulary and grammar, explaining legal concepts in plain English, and formulating contractual clauses correctly. Here are our top tips for writing English, based on our experience in teaching highly successful legal English courses. Homophones are words that sound the same as other words, but do not have the same spelling and have a different meaning. Here are some examples: Your best tool as a lawyer is your language, so be specific. Use spell and grammar checking software and proofread everything.
Another example from criminal law is the newspaper headline « Juvenile Court Should Try to Shoot Accused. » In legal English, « try » means « put on trial », but the meaning of « try » in everyday English is « attentted », which would mean that the court tried to shoot the accused who was on trial. In 2004, David Crystal proposed a stylistic influence on English legal language. In the Middle Ages, avocados used a mixture of Latin, French and English. To avoid ambiguity, lawyers often offered pairs of words from different languages. Sometimes there was little ambiguity to resolve, and couples only put more emphasis and became a stylistic habit. This is a feature of the legal style that continues to this day. Examples of duplicates in mixed languages are: « break and enter » (English/French), « fit and proper » (English/French), « lands and tenements » (English/French) and « will and testament » (English/Latin). Examples of English-only duplicates are « let and handiganance » and « have and hold ». Legal, legal, legitimate, legal means complying with the law.
Licite may apply to conformity with laws of any kind (e.g., natural, divine, general, or canonical). The legal sovereign right applies to what is sanctioned by law or in accordance with the law, especially if it is written or administered by the courts. Legal residents of the state may legitimately refer to a legal right or status, but also, in the case of extensive use, to a right or status supported by tradition, custom or accepted norms. A perfectly legitimate question about tax legality concerns strict compliance with legal provisions and applies in particular to what is regulated by law. Due to the spread of the English language in international trade relations, as well as its role as a legal language worldwide, there has long been a feeling in the international legal community that traditional English language training is not sufficient to meet the English language requirements of lawyers. The main reason for this is that such education generally ignores the ways in which the use of English can be altered by the particular requirements of legal practice – and by the conventions of legal English as a separate branch of English. Legal English is the type of English used in legal writing. In general, a legal language is a formalized language based on logical rules that differ from ordinary natural language in vocabulary, morphology, syntax and semantics, as well as other linguistic characteristics,[1] that aim to achieve consistency, validity, completeness and solidity, while retaining the advantages of a human-like language such as intuitive execution. Full meaning and open upgrading.