LEGAL LANGUAGE:ORIGIN, NATURE

AND SCOPE
Origin and development of English Language.
Its contribution in the development of the
language of law (legalese)
• Language – means of communication
• 6,500 living languages (UNESCO survey 2016)
• English Language- lingua franca
• Indian constitution adopted by Indian
Constituent assembly on NOV. 26, 1949 was in
English Language.
• In 1985, in 58th Constitutional Amendment –
translated in Hindi Language
• Domains of English Language
• EGP (English for General Purposes)
• ESP (English for Specific Purposes)

Legal language—an ESP

• Legal Language can be defined as the graphic medium
in which the whole legal wisdom of India is available.
It can also be termed as legalese.

• According to Thomas Orr (2005:9), ESP is the

“branch of English Language Education which
focuses on training in specific domains of English
to accomplish specific academic or workplace
tasks”
• Legal discourse is supposed to be very ambiguous, complex,
obscure and baffling …….WHY?

• Legal Language is the Veneration of its history

• Conservatism of profession

• Tiersma. P (1999) “…the hope that every man can be his own lawyer,
which has existed for centuries, is probably same and realistic as
having people be their own doctor. . . .”
• Bentham, Jeremy (1843) “if you strip away all the jargon from the
law, every simpleton is ready to say--What is there in all that?"
• Origin of Legalese
• Before 55 BC , ---people of Britain—Celtic language
• Words like London, Dover, Thames, Avon are celtic
originated words
• Much of the Briton’s laws were in the form of
saying/maxims (in Celtic language) (in spoken form
only)
• Tradition of king’s courtrooms
• Laws were handed –down from generation to generation by
words of mouth (until eventually being written down in Latin
Language by Romans).
• So, the maxims in legal language are Celtic originated.
Romans transliterated Celtic laws and maxims in Latin
Language
• In 55 BC , the Roman Emperor General Julius Caesar, invaded
Britain …Gallic Wars
• Actual history of Britain is said to be started with Romans.
• They invaded Britain in 55BC, 54 BC -------returned after 100 years 43
AD-410 AD (approx. 400 years of legacy)
• They brought two languages with them Latin and Greek ….Latin
(official language)
• They wrote Celtic laws and maxims in Latin Language and mixed them
with their own laws .
• A kind of law discourse emerged …..purely in Latin language.
• This Celto-Roman society did not give birth to English Language
• English Language begun in around 450 AD …Angles, Jutes and Saxon
invaded Britain
• Germanic people….rule over Britain from 450-1066 AD (616 years)
(Until Norman Conquest)
• Their race is --Anglo-Saxon--, and language—Old English
• Their domination was so strong and complete in itself that their
dominated territory came to be known as Angle-Land, later resulting
in England (P. Tiersma 1999:10)
• Anglo-Saxon – First linguistic invasion of English language
• Anglo-Saxon society ---fragmented into kingdoms---- having different
laws (mainly oral rather than written laws)
• Need for centralized administrative system of law
• Eventually led to the emergence of “common law”
• Common law – essentially a combination of commonly accepted
traditions, principles, and judicial precedents.
• Thus in around 600 AD, King Ethelbert of Kent wrote Laws in Old
English…..including Latin maxims and Latin technical terms as well (so
as to ensure its understanding to everyone)
• Finally the very first structured legal document written in Old English
having Latin Maxims and technical terms as well came into existence.
• Words contributed by Anglo-Saxons into law are: bequeath, goods,
guilt, manslaughter, murder, oath, rights, sheriff, steal, swear, theft,
thief, ward, witness, writ, moot etc..
• Old English started taking place into academics, administration,
offices, etc. and became the language of the place (with Celtic and
Latin)
• Celtic was at the verge of extinction, and native Britisher have started
adopting English language along with Latin.
• Meanwhile, in 787 AD Scandinavians (Sweden, Norway and Denmark)
raided the English coast from the north (people from the north or
Norsemen) and eventually settled down there.
• Their language was similar to Old English
• They have contributed around 1500 common words to Anglo Saxon
Old English : cake, call, fellow, get, give, guess, hit, kid, knife, leg,
same, smile, take, them ,they, their, both, want, week, skin, skull, sky,
egg, husband, wife, sister, though, till, until..etc
• The word “Law” is Scandinavian in origin. Derived from Norse word
“Lay” means “that which is laid down”.
The Norman Period
• In 1066 AD, William (Duke of Normandy) defeated Prince Harold of
Anglo-Saxon in the battle of Hasting, and became the ruler of
England.
• Race is came to be known as Norman---They came from Northern
France …..their language was French.
• They ruled over England from 1066-1366 AD (300 years)
• As more and more Normans took on positions of prominence ,
Norman French became the language of Power, honour, Chivalry and
justice……language of intellectuals and aristocrat….language of
prestige
• Anglo-Saxon’s old English remained the spoken language of native
Britishers.
• When Normans were on the administrative positions
…documentation was in the French language only (the only language
they knew)
• The need arises to legalise the use of French…..
• So in 1275 AD, (after 200 years) the First Statute came in French ,
according to which --all proceedings in the court of law should be in
English language but should be recorded in French….
• This means--No sweeping away of the English but legitimizing the use
of French.
• 1275-1310 (Transition Period)…The major legal documents and
sound texts written in English Language were being translated into
French.
• By 1310 AD almost all acts of Parliament were in the French language
(a language of the royal courts)
• But, acc. to English Historian J.H. Baker, outside the legal sphere,
Anglo- French was in steady decline after 1300 AD
• (only law professionals were using the French language)
• The race was in decline in 1300 AD
• In 1362, a statute was passed, which was written in French, but
deploring the use of French . (it required that all proceedings as well
as recording should be in the English language only) (it took near
about 100 years for such a profound change to take place)
• Now the major languages in use in England were Latin, English ,
French (Celtic, Greek)= Old English (a creole language)
• In 1483 AD , First Act of Parliament came in English Language
• In 1650, a law was passed by the parliament,
• all case reports and books of law to be in English Language
• Earlier legal documents to be translated into Eng.lang.
• In this way English (in its mixed form) became the native language of
England and essentially the language of law.
• Words contributed by Normans (Anglo-French) are : Property, estate, lease,
executor, tenant, court, parliament, justice, sovereign, marriage, action,
appeal, attorney, bailiff, bar, claim, complaint, counsel, court, defendant,
evidence, judge, jury, justice, parole, party, plaintiff, plea, plead, process,
sentence, sue, suit, summon, verdict, etc.
• The main credit of giving this prestige to English Language goes to Printing
Press and Chancery Clerks ---chancery are the parts of High Courts in
England.
• They are the elected officials ….assigned to attend hearings and maintain
records…
• Chancery English is a bit different form of London regional dialect.
• They also translated the earlier laws written in Celto-Roman, Anglo-Roman,
Anglo-French society into Chancery English
• In this way Chancery English became the standard variety of Legal sphere
in which the whole British Legal discourse is available.
• Old English—Anglo Saxons
• Middle English– 1100-1500 AD
• Early Modern English---1500-1700 AD
• Modern English—1700—till date
• Etymology of few Legal terms
• Jurare (Latin) Juree (AF) Jure (Mid.E) JURY (Mod.E)
• Consilium (L) Cunseil (AF) conseil (Mid. E) COUNSEL (Mod.E)
• Cohort (L) Curt (AF) COURT (Mid.E)
• Judic (L) Juger (AF) Juggen (Mid.E) JUDGE (Mod. E)
• Abbreviations: AF (Anglo French), Mid.E (Middle English), Mod. E
(Modern English), L (Latin)
Assignment: 1

• Write down the Etymology of atleast 30 more legal terms.

• Prepare the given bullet points in ppt into a detailed, coherent
examination answer.
• Refer the first two pages of Rupert Haigh (2009) Legal English.
• Visit www.bookfi.net for free download of this book.
• Refer online the book of Peter M, Tiersma (1999) Legal Language.