Legal English, or legalese, is a specific version of English used by lawyers, judges, and legislators in legal matters. It requires knowledge of specific terminology, precise language, and even some Latin and French. However, it can create unnecessarily long and confusing language due to its use of redundant words and ambiguous phrases. Legal English originated in prehistoric Britain and has spread worldwide due to its use in international business.
Legal English, often referred to as legalese, is the version of the English language that lawyers and others involved in the legal profession, such as judges and legislators, use when discussing legal and legal matters. It is mostly used in written form, such as in creating legal documents and laws, and during court proceedings. The use of legal English dates back, at least in some form, several thousand years.
There are several unique factors that distinguish Legal English from the more common Standard English that most people are familiar with. While it is based on standard English, it requires knowledge of very specific terminology specific to the law, a more precise way of speaking, and even some familiarity with Latin and French. It also has several quirks regarding sentence structure and word usage that may seem confusing to laymen. For example, instead of a document saying Mike Jones previously lived there, it might say something like Mike Jones previously resided at said residence.
Often, Legal English is needed to make things clearer when Standard English might be ambiguous, hence the use of more specific, albeit complex, words but can often be overused. This creates unnecessarily long and confusing language and communications. Most of these problems stem from the words used in Legal English and how they are put together. Many times two or three redundant words are combined together to express something that could be expressed in one word. For example, a document might use the term null and void instead of simply saying invalid>/em>.
The use of these types of sentences, while redundant, is still relatively straightforward, but they can make documents unnecessarily long and difficult to read if there are many of them. Sometimes, words are thrown together which, while similar, are not exactly the same. This creates the ambiguity you were trying to avoid in the first place. The use of these words in long, unusual sentences, another common feature of Legal English, often adds to the confusion.
Many of the quirks in the use of the modern form stem from its origins. Legal English had its beginnings in prehistoric Britain. Over the centuries, due to wars with the French, Latin and Germanic peoples, it transformed into a combination of all these languages, with many of the developed terms still in use today. The ad hoc phrase, commonly used in legal documents, is Latin. The word tenant is of French origin. Many times in the past words from different languages were used together to avoid any uncertainty, a practice that is still in use today.
The use of legal English used to be isolated in countries that had English as their primary language, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, but it has now spread all over the world due to its use in international business. Many schools that previously only taught standard English now teach the formal legal form of the language. There are many sites available on the internet that focus solely on this type of training.
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