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The magic of double words: What is the mystery of a mix of French and English in legal English?
Legal English, also known as legal language, is a special English vocabulary used in legal writing.It differs significantly from English in everyday life in many ways, including the use of professional terms, grammatical structure, and common fixed phrases such as legal double words.Traditionally, legal English is an area owned by lawyers in English-speaking countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya and South Africa, which share the tradition of common law.However, due to the spread of legal English, it has become the main language of international business and also plays an important role in the EU's legal system, legal English has now become a global phenomenon.
The historical development of legal language was deeply influenced by historical changes. From the common law of ancient Britain to the later introduction of Roman law and the Anglo-Norman language, the legal English we know today was formed.
Historical Development
In prehistoric Britain, common law was discussed in spoken local language.As history evolved, different rulers changed the legal language and legal traditions.During the Roman rule, the legal language was Latin; and after the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the legal language changed to the German language (Old English).After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Anglo-Norman French, as the official language of British legal proceedings, lasted for nearly 300 years until the English Procedure Act of 1362, began formally in English for legal proceedings, although Latin was in the legal record. It has been used for more than 650 years.
The implementation of the English Procedure Code of 1362 marked the beginning of formal legal English, although legal language continued to be used in some forms until the 17th century.
Legal English Style
In 2004, David Cristo proposed the style influence of legal English.In the Middle Ages, lawyers often used a mixed language of Latin, French and English.To avoid ambiguity, lawyers often provide vocabulary pairs from different languages.For example, "breaking and entering" and "fit and proper".This style of using double words is still widely present in legal writing today.
The formality of legal English and its dramatic effect make it outstanding in many legal documents. Even in some biography, the threatening statement with the ending of "the failure is responsible for its own responsibility" has a stronger reputation than the plain language. Effect.
The characteristics of legal English
The difference between legal English and standard English is very obvious. The following are some of the main characteristics:
- Use jargon terms: Legal English contains a large number of professional terms that are unfamiliar to ordinary people.
- Labor punctuation: Some old legal documents omit punctuation to avoid ambiguity.
- Use double and triple phrases: Multilingual mixing of early legal languages led to a tendency in legal English to string two to three words together to express a single legal concept.
- Unormal word order: The word order in legal English is different from standard English and often seems cumbersome.
- Use unfamiliar pronouns: for example "the same", "the said", etc., which are usually not common in standard English.
Legal English Education
Due to the universality of English in international business relations and its role as a global legal language, the international legal community is no longer satisfied with traditional English training, and more and more non-native English-speaking legal professionals and Law students choose specialized legal English training.These trainings are becoming increasingly popular among law schools, language centres and private institutions, and there are systems dedicated to exams for evaluating legal English proficiency, such as the TOLES exam in the UK.
The characteristics of legal English make it unique, but will this charm continue with changes in legal practice?
