Sources of Legal English

 Sources of Legal English

By: Anjali Tiwari

Latin was largely used in court records and later legislation in terms of its relationship to English law. Because Latin was only known by intellectuals and educators, it never became a language of litigation or conflict. The Latin word versus derives from these periods when it comes to citing cases. The Anglo-Saxon populace not only used Old English as a legal language, but also Latin, which, despite being present in England during the Roman era, was only strengthened following the arrival of Christian missionaries in 597. It was soon not only the Church's language, but also education and schooling in general. The Church marketed Christianity as synonymous with literacy, and while the majority of the public did not comprehend Latin, it established a broad norm of written communication that had a significant impact on the legal language. Another key socio-political event that shaped and characterized the linguistic situation in contemporary England was the Norman conquest of England in 1066, when Norman Duke William, known as the Conqueror, made demands on the English throne and conquered England in the Battle of Hastings. Because French-speaking Normans held every key post in England, French became the language of authority and the court, while English was only spoken by the lower classes. Almost all of the terminologies used in government are of French origin. Many terminology often used in the legal field today have their origins in this period, as French became the official language of court proceedings. Terms like property, estate, chattel, lease, executor, tenant, and so on are examples. Despite this, the Normans continued to use Latin for formal documents and laws, and, as previously said, Latin was never used for legal pleading or discussion because the majority of the population did not understand it. In circumstances when clerks could not speak Latin, the legal language was named "Law Latin," and it adopted other terminology of French provenance as well as English terms in its vocabulary. The names of applications for prerogative writs, such as mandamus and certiorari, as well as the terminology of case citation (versus, ex rel., etc.) are still in Latin, possibly as a result of the usage of Latin for court orders and court records until the early 18th century. For example, halt is a Latin term, but desist is a French word. Will is an Old English word, while testament is a French word. Peace is a Latin word, and quiet is a French one. For years, French was the dominant language of the legal profession, and it had a huge influence on the language. The following terms are of French origin: appeal, attorney, bailiff, claim, complaint, court, defendant, evidence, judge, judgement, jury, justice, party, plaintiff, plea, sue, suit, summon, verdict, and voir dire. In terms of grammar, French had a brief influence on English, but its traces may still be found in official and legal terminology, where the position of the substantive and adjective has been altered, e.g. attorney general, but in English and other Germanic languages, the word order is the opposite which means adjective precedes a substantive. Example the word German Generalalwalt means general attorney. Heir apparent, court martial, body politic, fee simple absolute, letters testamentary, malice aforethought, solicitor general, and other phrases are similar. In contrast to e.g. lessor – landlord, law French permitted the formation of words with the ending -ee to express the person who is the recipient or object of the act, e.g. lessee – tenant (detainee, expellee, etc.). As time went on, the lawyers' French became increasingly limited, and more and more English words began to appear in the French text.  In England, there is a well-known case from 1631 in which a convicted person threw a brick at a judge. 

The record from the proceedings stated that: “he ject un brickbat a le dit justice, que narrowly mist”. The judge, on the other hand, did not find it amusing and sentenced the offender to have his hand amputated and to be “immediatement hange in presence de Court”. 

Such French-English formulations came to a stop in 1731, when Parliament finally outlawed the use of French in court proceedings, 600 years after the Norman Conquest of England and 300 years after French ceased to be the official language of the English Royal Court. Let us use an example of a force majeure clause to demonstrate the reality of the impact of the three languages used at the same time on current legal English: Neither party shall be liable to the other for any failure to perform or delay in performing its obligations caused by any circumstances beyond its reasonable control. The statement has 28 words, 17 of which are Old English words, 7 Old French words, and 4 Latin words. Prepositions are number nine in Old English (e.g. the, to, for, in, by). All key legal terminology (for example, party, responsibility, duties, reasonable, and perform) are derived from Old French or Latin. In the words if we compare English to a computer, English is the "hardware" that gives phrases grammatical structure, but French-Latin terminology is the "software" that conveys legal meaning. As the printed word became more prevalent, some writers made a conscious attempt to include Latin-derived vocabulary to make their writing appear more scholarly. Adjacent, frustrate, inferior, legal, quiet, and subscribe are some legal terms derived from Latin in this fashion. Some writers began to utilise a Latin word order as well. This resulted in an extravagant style that was meant to impress rather than enlighten. Some of the ornateness and unique word order of legal papers can still be traced back to Latin grammar. It also explains why constructions are so common in legal writings. At various times, English was used for various types of legal papers. Around 1400, wills began to be written in English.  Around the period of 1300 Statutes were written in Latin, then in 1485 French and then in English and French for a few years until being written entirely in English from 1489.

Conclusion

Finally, it's worth noting that the current form of the English legal language was not concocted by attorneys with the intention of monopolising the profession or creating a monopoly on legal services. The natural result of many socio-political, linguistic, and cultural factors, as well as the progressive development in the complexity of the entire English legal system, is this language.