INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL ENGLISH

Prof. Rosario Fucarino

Inglese Giuridico

Anno Accademico 2024-2025

The language of the law can be defined as sui generis1, as it differs not only from
everyday language, but also from other special languages. It is the result of different
historical contexts and cultures, and it varies according to the legal system to which it refers.
It is notoriously complicated to interpret, often full of obscure and archaic terms and with
multiple meanings: many scholars have highlighted the complexity of legal language and
some of them claim that it is deliberately obscure in order to permit communication only
between experts in the field. However it has also been observed that even when there is not
the intention to the hide meaning or message, authors of legal texts use an elaborate and
archaic language.

1.1 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ENGLISH

The English language contains elements from many different European languages and
has also borrowed words from a wide variety of other languages. It is impossible to grasp
how these influences affect the language without understanding a little about the history of
the British Isles. In summary, three historical phases can be identified that contributed to the
development.

Prior to the Roman invasion in 55 BC, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic dialect. Latin
made little impression until St. Augustine arrived in AD 597 to spread Christianity (fig.1).
Latin words are regularly used in English, particularly in professional language. In the legal
profession, Latin phrases like inter alia (among others) and per se (in itself) remain in current
use.

Sui generis is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their ow n kind" ", therefore "unique"
1
 fig.1 (Roman Invasion)

Subsequently, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded the British Isles from mainland
northern Europe (fig.2). The language they brought with them forms the basis of what is
known as Old English. This gives us the 100 most commonly used words in the English
language (words like God, man, woman, child, love, live, go, at, to).

fig.2 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes invasion)

The Vikings began to raid the northeast of England from Scandinavia from the eighth century
onwards. At a later date, a significant number of Vikings settled in this area (fig.3), bringing
with them their own linguistic contribution (which can be seen for example in the numerous
place names in the northeast of England (and Scotland) and in words such as egg, husband,
law, take, knife).
 Fig. 3 Vikings homelands and settlments

1.2 SOURCES OF LEGAL ENGLISH

Legal English reflects the mixture of languages that has produced the English language
generally. However, modern legal English owes a particular debt to French and Latin.
Following the Norman invasion of England in 1066 (fig.4), French became the official
language of England, although most ordinary people still spoke English. For a period of
nearly 300 years, French was the language of legal proceedings, with the result that many
words in current legal use have their roots in this period. These include property, executor
and tenant.

fig.4
During this period, Latin remained the language of formal records and statutes. However,
since only the learned were fluent in Latin, it never became the language of legal pleading
or debate.

Therefore, for several centuries following the Norman invasion, three languages were used
in England. English remained the spoken language of the majority of the population, but
almost all writing was done in French or Latin. English was not used in legal matters.

In 1356, the Statute of Pleading was enacted (in French). It stated that all legal proceedings
should be in English, but recorded in Latin. Nonetheless, the use of French in legal pleadings
continued into the seventeenth century in some areas of the law. In this later period, new
branches of – in particular – commercial law began to develop entirely in English and remain
relatively free of French-based terminology.

As the printed word became more commonplace, some writers made a deliberate effort to
adopt words derived from Latin, with the aim of making their text appear more sophisticated.
Some legal words taken from Latin in this way are adjacent, frustrate, inferior, legal, quiet
and subscribe. Some writers also started to use a Latin word order. This led to an ornate
style, deliberately used to impress rather than inform. Even today, Latin grammar is
responsible for some of the ornateness and unusual word order of legal documents.

English was adopted for different kinds of legal documents at different times. Wills began to
be written in English in about 1400. Statutes were written in Latin until about 1300, in French
until 1485, in English and French for a few years, and in English alone from 1489.
Old Legal English

→In 1066, after the Norman invasion, French became the official language of England, and for
almost 300 years, it was the language used in jurisprudence together with Latin.

→From 1356 English, which until then was limited to spoken language, began to be used in the
legal sphere, while French and Latin started being restricted. With the spread of the printed
words, Latin was just used to confer more prestige on legal documents, whereas French
remained present, but was not so widely utilized.

Contemporary Legal English

→Latin and French terms, together with Old and Middle English ones, have survived in today’s
legal English, and therefore it is not surprising to find Latinisms such as habeas corpus or
French origins words like appeal . The result of the influence of French, is also evident in some
words with the suffix –age that have become part of English legal language and have a precise
meaning, for example the terms average, pilotage, damage and anchorage

1.3 The features of the Legal Language

Among all special languages, legal language is perhaps the least communicative, since it is
designed to allow for communication between experts and is far from that of informal and
spontaneous conversation.

The expression “legal language” is a generic term that includes several uses of the same
language, e.g. the production of legal documents, correspondence between lawyers, the
writing of texts containing (unofficial) legal information, or legal reports published in
newspapers: its purpose is to create, produce, and express norms, and therefore it is
considered directive and imperative. In addition, legal language presents some peculiarities
in its lexicon2 , syntax3, and register. Starting with lexicon, in linguists the legal field do not

2
lexicon is the vocabulary of a language
3
Syntax is the structure of the sentence
use the term “terminology” with regard to this specific lexicon; rather, they adopt the term
“technical vocabulary”.

Every legal system is influenced by the culture it represents. This leads to the development
of unique concepts within the system, which are then represented with a certain terminology.
If, for example, a legal system A does not have the same concept that is present in legal
system B, even the term that represents this concept will not exist and this is what
complicates the communication between two different legal systems particularly problematic
when two different legal systems have to communicate. Syntax constructions in the legal
sphere can express a simple language, such as in the case of a judgment, where the judges
present the facts using juxtapositions and coordinate clauses, to obtain an objective
language. On the other hand, a hypotactic syntax is present in laws, statutes, and legal
textbooks, where instead it is frequent the use of subordinates and restrictive clauses which
makes them quite complex and hard to understand.