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LANGUAGE AND LAW

LANGUAGE AND LAW. Languages for Specific Purposes and Legal English. Preview. Languages for specific purposes Legal language Characteristics of legal English Examples : Act of Settlement (1700); The Succession to the Crown Act (2013) History of English

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LANGUAGE AND LAW

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  1. LANGUAGE AND LAW Languages for SpecificPurposesand Legal English

  2. Preview • Languages for specificpurposes • Legal language • Characteristicsoflegal English • Examples: ActofSettlement (1700); TheSuccession to theCrownAct (2013) • Historyof English • Sourcesand development oflegal English

  3. Lead-in • Islegallanguagedifficult? Why? • Islegallanguageusedonly for communicationbetweenlegalprofessionals? • Shouldordinarycitizensbeable to understandlegallanguage? Why? • What are the major legaltexttypes (genres)?

  4. Lead-in • What are langauges for specificpurposes? • Whendidtheydevelopandwhy? • How doeslegal English differfrom general English? • What are thespecialcharacteristicsoflegal English?

  5. Languages for SpecificPurposes (LSP) • Developmetofscienceandtechnologyafter World War II • Approach to languageteachingaddressingspecificneedsofprofessionallearners • Alsostudies a typeoflanguageusedbymembersof a particularprofession, concentrating on itsgenres, stylisticfeaturesandtechnicalterms

  6. Legal language • Based on ordinarylanguage, but has a numberofspecialfeatures

  7. DifferencesbetweenlegallanguageandotherLSPs • Legal language – veryold; retainsmanyfeaturesthathavedisappearedfromordinarylanguage; influence of Latin • Notonly for internalprofessionalcommunication; plainlanguagemovements • Termsfromotherprofessionallanguages

  8. Characteristicsof Legal English • Speciallegalterms (damages, injunction, tort) • Archaisms (aforesaid, forthwith, hereafter, herein) • Borrowingsfromotherlanguages: Latin (corpusdelicti, actusreus, mensrea, obiterdicta, ratiodecidendi, stare decisis); French: contract, court, judge, judgment, jury, marriage, money, prison, property, tort), Frenchsuffixes: employ-er, employ-ee) • Specificcollocations (fair trial, reach a verdict); phrasalverbs (put down a deposit, writedown a debt)

  9. Characteristicsof Legal English • Ordinarywordswith a speciallegalmeaning (construction, satisfy, consideration) • Legal doublets(nullandvoid, lastwilland testament) • Uncommon pro-forms(thesame, thesaid, theaforementioned) • Syntacticcomplexity (long, complex sentences)

  10. Characteristicsof Legal English • Nominalisation (nounsusedinsteadofverbs for actionsorprocesses) • Passivization • Impersonality (3rd person; ‘theContractor’; ‘theLender’ • Multiplenegation (Thatisthekindofaccident, whichordinarilydoesnotoccurintheabsenceofsomeone’snegligence = Itisthekindofaccident, whichoccurswhensomeoneisnegligent)

  11. Legal English: Modal Verbs • Shall – thelegal imperative; obligation • Shallnot – prohibition • Must – proceduralobligation • Should = ‘itisrecommended’ • May – permissionsandauthorizations • May not – cancellationof a permissionorexception to a general permission

  12. Completethefollowing table

  13. Decidewhetherthefollowingstatements are trueorfalse

  14. ActofSettlement (1700) • ProvidedalwaysanditisherebyenactedThatallandeveryPersonandPersonswhoshallormay take orinheritthesaidCrownbyvertueoftheLimitationofthispresentActandis are orshallbereconciled to orshallholdCommunionwiththeSeeorChurchof Rome orshallprofessthePopishReligion…shallbesubject to suchIncapacities as insuchCaseorCases are bythesaidrecitedActprovidedenactedandestablishedAndthatevery King and Queen ofthisRealmwhoshallcome to andsucceedintheImperiallCrownofthis Kingom byvertueofthisActshallhavetheCoronationOathadministered to himherorthem at theirrespectiveCoronationsaccording to theActofParliamentmadeinthe First YearoftheReignofHisMajestyandthesaid late Queen MaryintitulatedAnAct for establishingtheCoronationOathandshall make subscribeandrepeattheDeclarationintheActfirstaboverecitedmentionedorreferred to intheMannerandFormtherebyprescribed.

  15. TheSuccession to theCrownAct 2013 • An Act to make succession to the Crown not depend on gender; to make provision about Royal Marriages; and for connected purposes. • [25th April 2013] • Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

  16. TheSuccession to theCrownAct 2013 • 1 Succession to the Crown not to depend on gender • In determining the succession to the Crown, the gender of a person born after 28 October 2011 does not give that person, or that person’s descendants, precedence over any other person (whenever born). • 2 Removal of disqualification arising from marriage to a Roman Catholic • (1)A person is not disqualified from succeeding to the Crown or from possessing it as a result of marrying a person of the Roman Catholic faith. • (2)Subsection (1) applies in relation to marriages occurring before the time of the coming into force of this section where the person concerned is alive at that time (as well as in relation to marriages occurring after that time).

  17. Research • Find a recentjudgmentoftheSupreme Court ofthe UK (www.supremecourt.uk) andcompareitsstructureandstyle to thatof a recentjudgmentoftheSupreme Court ofthe Republic of Croatia (www.vsrh.hr)

  18. Historyof English • Who weretheearliestinhabitantsofthe British Isles? • Who invaded te British islesindifferentperiods? • Whatlanguageswerespokenbytheinvadors?

  19. A short historyofthe English language

  20. Assignment • Write a summary of the major periods in the history of the English language explaining the influence of other languages in different periods.

  21. Lead-in •  Why was French important in the history of English? • When was the Statute of Pleading enacted and why was it important? • Which areas of law remained relatively free of French-based terminology? Why?

  22. Sourcesof Legal English • Impactof Latin andFrench • Followingthe Norman conquestin 1066, FrenchbecamethelanguageoftherulingclassesinEngland • French – thelanguageoflegalproceedings for almost 300 years • 1356 the Statute ofPleading – allcourtproceedingsshouldbein English, but recordedin Latin • 1400 English wills • Before 1300 statuteswerewrittenin Latin, inFrenchuntil 1485, in English from 1489

  23. Whatistheoriginofwordsinthefollowing sentence (Latin/French/English) • „Neither party shallbeliable to theother for failure to performordelayintheperformanceofitsobligationscausedbyanycircumstancesbeyonditsreasonablecontrol.”

  24. Research • Prepare a presentation on a chosen period inthehistoryoflegal English, focusig on the influence ofotherlanguages • Prepare a presentationaboutthecharacteristicsoflegal English • Prepare a presentationaboutthecharacteristicsoflegal Croatian

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