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Legal English

Legal English. Chapter 8. Preview. Development of the English legal system Development of legal English Characteristics of legal English Legal English as a global language. The Common Law System. Law created by courts Common law - equity

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Legal English

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  1. Legal English Chapter 8

  2. Preview • DevelopmentoftheEnglish legal system • Developmentof legal English • Characteristicsof legal English • Legal English as a global language

  3. TheCommonLawSystem • Lawcreatedbycourts • Commonlaw - equity EnglandandWales, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand

  4. BirthofCommonLaw • Afterthe Norman conquest (1066) • To consolidate his dominance, the king sought to centralisethejusticesystembyestablishingthe Royal CourtsofJustice at Westminster • Powerfulvassalsresistedthecentralisationofjustice • Royal Courts – able to adjudicatecasesfallingclearlywithinthe king’s competence • Progressively, increasingcategoriesofcasestransferred to theseCourts

  5. BirthofCommonLaw • Court judgments - importancethatwentbeyondtheparticularcasesinwhichthey had beenpronounced • To specifytheconditionsandlimitsofthebindingeffectofjudgments, a refinedruleofprecedentwasprogressivelycreated • The legal systembuiltbycaselawstrengthenedthepositionofjudges

  6. BirthofEquity • DuringtheMiddleAges, Royal Courts – archaicandformalisticjudicialorgans • TheChancellorbegan to recifyjudgmentsoftheCourtsofWestmionster on thebasisof natural justice • Court ofChancery – createdits own remediesand legal conceptsofhighlytechnical nature, maintainingonly a distant link withfairnessandreasonableness

  7. Equity • 17th c. fiercestruggles for power betweentheCourtsof Westminster andthe Court ofChancery • Endedin a compromiseguaranteeingbothcourtstheirproperfieldofcompetence • Divisionbetweeenequityandcommonlawwasformed; maintainedevenafterunificationoftheEnglishjusticesysteminthe 19th c.

  8. TheEnglish legal systemtoday • TheamountofEnglishlegislation – comparable to thatofcontinentalcountries • Statutes- considered to beincompleteuntilthe moment whenthey are “covered” bynumerousprecedentsspecifyingtheinterpretationoftheirmainprovisions

  9. TheEnglish legal systemtoday • Divisionsoflawand legal concepts- differentfrom civil law • Commonlaw – equitydivision – unknownincontinentalcountries • Manyinstitutions, e.g. trust, foreign to civil-law Europe

  10. TheEnglish legal systemtoday • Consistsofanexceptionallylargeamountofdetail • Explanation: originallydevelopedbyjudges • Unlikethelegislator, thecourtshave to drawvery fine distinctionssincetheyhave to decidehighlyvariedindividualcases

  11. TheEnglish legal systemtoday • Rulesoflawinducedfromcases – remarkablyconcrete • Theserules – cannotberaised to a levelofabstraction as rulesformulatedby legal science • Sincecaselaw is composedof a networkofrules, lawshave to bewritteninthe same way, i.e. highlydetailed to ensurecompatibilityofthetwotypesofrules

  12. Migrations of Angles, Saxons and Jutes

  13. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE • OLD ENGLISH (c. 450- c. 1100) • MIDDLE ENGLISH (c. 1100- c.1450) • MODERN ENGLISH (c. 1450 - )

  14. LATER OLD ENGLISH (c. 850 - c.1100)Language Contacts • OLD NORSE • Lexical words • Nouns:birth, bull, dirt, egg, fellow, husband, leg, sister, skin, sky, skirt, window • Adjectives: ill, low, odd, rotten, sly, weak • Verbs:call, crawl, die, get, give, lift, raise, scream, take, • Function words • Pronouns: they (their, them) • Conjunctions: though • Determiners: some, any • Auxiliaries: are • Names • Family names: -son: Johnson, Stevenson • Place names: -by 'farm, town': Derby, Rugby, Whitby; -thorp 'village': Althorp, Linthorp

  15. SCANDINAVIAN PLACE NAMES

  16. MIDDLE ENGLISH (c. 1100-1450)French Influence • Administration • Authority, bailiff, baron, chamberlain, chancellor, constable, council, court, crown, duke, empire, exchequer, government, liberty, majesty, mayor, messenger, minister, noble, palace, parliament, prince, realm, reign, revenue, royal, servant, sir, sovereign, statute, tax, traitor, treason, treasurer, treaty • Law • Accuse, advocate, arrest, arson, assault, assize, attorney, bail, bar, blame, convict, crime, decree, depose, estate, evidence, executor, felon, fine, fraud, heir, indictment, inquest, jail, judge, jury, justice, larceny, legacy, libel, pardon, perjury, plaintiff, plea, prison, punishment, sue, summons, trespass, verdict, warrant • Military • Ambush, archer, army, battle, besiege, captain, combat, defend, enemy, garrison, guard, lance, lieutenant, navy, retreat, sergeant, siege, soldier, vanquish

  17. The Statute of Pleading, 1362 • “All lawsuits shall be conducted in English, because French is much unknown in the said realm”

  18. Richard Mulcaster (1582) • “The English tongue is of small account, stretching no further than this island of ours, nay not there over all.”

  19. THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH

  20. Tripartite model (B. Kachru)

  21. Developmentof legal English: the Anglo-Saxon Period • Documentswithseals to certifythe sale of real estate or some otheractof transfer: gewritor writ • Duringthe Norman era writs had animportant role inthecreationofcommonlaw • Viking occupation – borrowingofScandinavianwords: law, gift, loan, sale, trust

  22. The Anglo-Saxon Period • Verbalmagic • Actsof transfer requiredcomplicatedandpreciselanguagerituals; a singlemistakecouldnullifytheact • Useofrhythmicexpressions • Alliteration – commoninmaximsandbinaryexpressions

  23. The Anglo-Saxon Period • Inversion to strenghtentheimpact: I withmyeyessawandwithmyearsheard • Languagegraduallybecame more complexsyntactically but stillcontainedelementsofspokenlanguage

  24. The Anglo-Saxon Period • Some Latin words • Royal legislationandspreadofChristianity • Examples: convict, admit, mediate, legitimate

  25. DominanceofLaw Latin • The Norman Conquestbrought to England a French-speakingupperclass • Latin – dominantinlaw • Normans – used Latin inimportantcontexts • 11-12 c. Latin wasthelanguageof legal documentsinEngland

  26. DominanceofLaw Latin • Inthis period – commonlawwascreated • Manyessentialcommonlawtermswereoriginallyformulatedin Latin (e.g. breve ‘writ’) • Meaningdivergedfromthatofclassical Latin • Often, Norman French or evenEnglishwordswereLatinised (e.g. morder > murdrum) ‘dog Latin’

  27. Rise ofLawFrench • 1st lawpromulgatedinFrenchin 1275 • Endof 13th c. both Latin andFrenchused as legislative languages • Early 14th c. Frenchusedindraftinglaws (exceptinChurchmatters) • Late 13th c. the Royal CourtsusedFrenchduringsessions; casereports – preparedinFrench

  28. Rise ofLawFrench • Frenchbecamethe legal languageinEnglandfromthe late 13th c., both for legislationandthelawcourts • The use ofFrenchinEnglish legal circles – a strangephenomenonbecausein 13th c. French had alreadybegun to disappearinEngland as a languageofcommunication; yetthe rise ofFrench as languageofthelawonlystarted at that time

  29. Rise ofLawFrench • Reasons: • A sectionoftheEnglisharistocracy – stillFrench-speaking at theendof 13th c. • French as thelanguageofculture • Centralisationofjusticesystemconsolidatedthe status ofFrench • Secularisationofthejusticesystem – clerics no longeroperated as judges

  30. Rise ofLawFrench • Withits general disappearancefromEngland, French had becomethemarkofthetrueelites • Legal profession – monopolyoftheelites • French – guaranteethatthepeoplecouldnotmeddleinthejusticesystembecausetheywereunaable to followthetriallprocess • LawFrench – eventhen a dead language: itsexpressions had a clear legal meaning; appropriate for use as legal terms

  31. DeclineofLaw Latin andLawFrench • 1362 Statute ofPleading – draftedinFrench! – prescribedthatjudgeswere to use English but that court minutescouldstillbepreparedin Latin • According to Sir Edward Coke, it wasbetterthattheunlearnedwerenotable to read legal materials becausetheywouldget it all wrongandharmthemselves!

  32. DeclineofLaw Latin andLawFrench • Endof 14th c. parliamentarianswereusingspokenEnglish • Stillin 17th c. possible to hearlawFrenchintheInnsof Court, and, occasionally, inthecourts; a numberof legal works – stillwritteninlawFrench • Frenchand Latin finallyabolishedin 1731

  33. DeclineofLaw Latin andLawFrench • Latin – declinedin 16th and 17th c.; remainedanimportant legal language: court records, writsandother legal documentswrittenin Latin until 18th c.

  34. Dominanceof Latin, FrenchandEnglish • 1000 1200 1500 2000 • Latin supremacy • LawFrenchsupremacy • Englishsupremacy

  35. Characteristicsof Legal English • English – a global language • Variesaccording to differentsituations; sometimes: stiffandconservative, sometimesinnovativeandcreative • Differencebetweenthespokenlanguageof court sessionsandwritten legal language

  36. Influence ofotherlanguages • Legal English – a languageofinteractionbetween Old English (Anglo-Saxon, withScandinavianelements), Medieval Latin, Old French • Latin andFrenchexpressions - partofthe most basicvocabularyofEnglishlaw; foundationsofEnglish legal thinking • Calques – translationsfrom Latin andFrench (originally, commonlawwascomuneley)

  37. Latin • Legal maxims: ubi jus, ibiremedium • Ratiodecidendi, obiterdicta • Ordinary Latin: versus; pro se (saidofanindividualrepresentingthemselvesin court, i.e. without legal representation)= inpropria persona,in forma pauperis(exemptfrompaying court costs) ex parte(‘from one partyonly, for thebenefitof one partyonly’), mens rea, scienter (‘knowingly’), animustestandi(‘intention to make a will’)

  38. Latin • Technicalmeaning: amicuscuriae • A privateindividual, a legal person, eventhe State thatgivesthe court specific legal information

  39. Latin • shortenedexpressions • Nisi prius(‘unlessbefore’) = a matterofproceedings at first instance with a jurypresent • Affidavit (‘he affirmed’) = ‘a written or printeddeclarationconfirmedbyanoath’ • Habeascorpus(‘youmayhavethebody’) = a judge’s order to bring a prisonerbeforethe court to clarifythelegalityofdetaininghim

  40. Latin • legal discoursemarkers • Aforesaid < predictus; said < dictus • InmedievalEngland, when a person’s nameappeared for the 1st time precededbyquidem ‘a certain’; later, thewordspredictus, dictusor idemwereused

  41. LawFrench • Real propertylaw: purautrevie‘for or duringthelifetimeof a third party’, terre-tenant • Most technical legal vocabularygoesback to Old French: assault, infraction, damage, action, counsel, defendant, judge, jury, party, process, verdict

  42. LawFrench • Influence on word formation: • Old French past participle: -e or –ee (for thepersonobtainingsth or formingtheobjectofanaction • Doeroftheaction: -or/-er • Employer/employee, trustor/trustee, vendor/vendee

  43. LawFrench • Word order • Accountspayable, attorney general, court martial, feesimple, letters patent

  44. Ritual andformalismoflanguage: thetraditionofverbalmagic • MiddleAges: magicalrites: parties had to recite thewordsnecessary for thecourseofthetrialwithabsoluteaccuracy, underpenaltyofforfeitingtheirrights

  45. Repetition • Binaryexpressions: wordswiththe same meaningexisted at the same time intheformof Latin-Frenchvariantsand Anglo-Saxonvariants . Repetitionsensuredthat legal messageswereunderstandablein a multilingualsociety • Acknowledgeandconfess, actanddeed, deviseandbequeath, fitandproper, goodsandchattels, willand testament

  46. Repetition • triplerepetition:nullandvoidandof no effect, authorized, empoweredandentitled to • To tellthetruth, thewholetruth, andnothing but thetruth

  47. WordinessofEnglish legal language: Influence ofcase-law • Mylward v. Weldon (1596) theplaintiffproduced a pleadingrunning to 120 pages • Examplesofwordiness: (Mattila 2006: 235-236)

  48. Lawofcontract • Caselaw – fundamental • Ifthepartiesomitsthfromthecontract, theycannotrely on thecourts to insert it later on theirbehalfbywayofinterpretation • Termsof a contract – alwaysinterpretednarrowly: parolevidencerule: ifthemeaningofawrittencontract is clear, then no otherevidence is allowed as to itscontent; thecontractshouldcontain all that is needed

  49. Lawofcontract • Thelanguageof a contractgovernedbycommonlawshouldbe general enough to covereverysituation, yetpreciseenoughtoensurethatthe legal positionoftheparties is unambiguous • Thecontractshouldshowwithcertaintywhat it includesandwhatitdoesnot (Ibid: 237)

  50. OrthographyandPronunciation • Legal language – a tool of group cohesion, or team spirit • Frenchand Latin pronounced as Englishwords • Oyezpronounced as oou-yes

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