Business English

Legal English
How many subvarieties of legal
English can you think of?
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Legal documents: contracts, deeds, insurance
policies, wills, many kinds of regulations
Works of legal reference, with their complex
apparatus of footnotes and indexing
Case law: language made up of spoken and
written decisions which judges make about
indvidual cases
What is generally denominated
legal language is…
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… a mere technical language,
calculated for eternal duration and
easy to be apprehended both in
present and future times
And it is…
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Flawless
Unambiguous
Impenetrable
Complex syntax, full of apparent
redundancy
Concern for coherence and precision
Respect for ritual and historical
tradition
Some functions of legal English
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Its statements have to be so phrased that we can see
their general applicability…
… yet be specific enough to apply to individual
circumstances
They have to be stable enough to stand the test of
time…
…. yet flexible enough to adapt to new social
situations
They have to be expressed in such a way that
people can be certain about the intention of the law
respecting their rights and duties
That’s why…
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Complex syntax:
– Lengthy sentences (because it tries to integrate
several relevant issues in a single statement)
– repetitive (because it needs to make clear
whether a new point applies to everything which
has previously been said)
– Coordinated phrases and a long list of items (in
order to reduce uncertainty about whether the
law applies in a particular case)
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Use of elaborate hypotactic constructions
widespread use of conditional clauses
introduced by if/should/where, reflecting the
cautious nature of legal decision making.
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Organisation in paragraphs, with
appropriate punctuation consisting of a
frequent use of colons, semi-colons, numbers
and spacing.
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Small set of grammatical and lexical
features
– Modal verbs (must, shall, will) distinguish
between obligation and discretion.
– Pronouns (all, whoever) and generic
nouns (hyperonyms e.g. vehicle person)
help to foster a law’s general applicability
– Certainty can be promoted by explicitly
listing specific items (hyponyms)
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The present and present perfect tenses
are prevalent, in addition to the
deontic shall where the obligations of
law are concerned:
– Upon receipt of any order by the agent for
goods the said agent shall immediately
transmit the above mentioned order to the
principal…
Stylistically
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Much Repetition or partial repetition
Resort of capital letters
Other emphatic devices
– To stress the importance of the key
features in a legal text:
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publishers.
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The tone is archetypally impersonal,
often ritualistically conventional:
In accordance with Article 3, sub-section
(d), clause 13a
Lexis
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Archaic terms so typical of English juridical
jargon:
Whereas (premesso che)
Whereby (per cui, per la qual cosa)
Thereby (a causa di ciò, in merito)
Henceforth (d’ora in avanti)
Hereto (qui, a questo)
In witness thereof (in fede di ciò)
The aforesaid (di cui sopra)
Lexis
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Many terms are used exclusively or
predominantly within a legal context:
–
–
–
–
–
–
To sue (citare, fare causa)
Warrant (ingiunzione, mandato, ordine)
Summons (mandato di comparizione)
Binding (vincolante)
To enact (emanare)
Default (inadempimento)
Lexis
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legal collocations:
– to claim damages (chiedere
risarcimento),
– to commit for trial (inviare a
giudizio),
– to draft a bill (redigere un
progetto di legge);
Lexis
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Others can be seen to belong to the
legal and other sectors:
– Mortgage (ipoteca)
– Merger (fusione)
– Patent (brevetto)
Locutions
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Formulaic expressions of a ritualistic
nature:
–
–
–
–
Given that (dato che)
In the evident of (nel caso di)
It is hereby certified (certifica)
I, the undersigned, … (il sottoscritto)
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Verbs + prepositions:
– To lay down (formulare)
– Pertaining to (in riferimento a, riguardo a)
– To provide for (provvedere, prevedere)
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A number of fossilised expressions
Expressions of foreign or classical origin:
– Ordinary care and skill (diligenza del buon
padre di famiglia)
– Without let or hindrance (senza alcun
impedimento)
– Malice aforethought (premeditazione)
– Force majeure (forza maggiore)
– Inter alia
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Frequent use of twinned terms:
Right and privileges (diritti)
Aid and abet (essere complice)
Whereupon and wherefore (al che)
Goods and chattels (ogni sorta di beni
mobili)
Null and void (nullo)
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Specialist vocabulary employed
– Precision in the choice of appropriate
words and expressions is essential
– Need to avoid ambiguity
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We have seen in the lesson on business English that a feature of ESP texts is the
specialist vocabulary employed. Precision in the choice of appropriate words and
expressions is essential in many other specialist fields such as medicine and law.
The need to avoid ambiguity is clear in the case of a legal document such as the
text we have used here where people signing the contract have to be sure of their
rights and obligations. This explains why we frequently encounter specialist
lexemes which are monosemic, that is, they have one meaning only. A very clear
example of monosemic expression is the title of the legal document we have
chosen for our study text: Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement which is a very
special type of letting arrangement referring to an agreement to rent a property for
a short period only and protecting the owner’s right to regain immediate
possession of the property at the end of the fixed period. If we analyse the term
we can see that the two middle words shorthold and tenancy are truly specialist
lexemes only used in a legal context: shorthold refers to the limited period in which
property is rented and tenancy to the use of a building in return for fixed
payments( ie rent); whilst the first and the last words assured and agreement
have a much wider usage. Nonetheless taken as a whole unit of meaning, the
expression is clearly monosemic.
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However, not all ESP vocabulary is monosemic. For example
the term landlord means the owner of property but also the
person who runs a public house. In this case there is a
relationship between the two meanings for although the
person running the public house may not strictly be the owner
but a manager, in the past he was the owner. The semantic
relationship between the meanings of the word provision is
even less evident since it has two distinct meanings when
used in the plural : 1) supplies of food and all necessary items
2) conditions in a legal document. Although once again the
reference to providing for needs is common to both. In some
cases their appears to be absolutely no semantic association
between the meanings of a word. For example the word
effects which means 1) personal belongings 2) the results or
consequences of something.
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Generally speaking we refer to words with more than
one meaning as polysemes. However words like
“effects” with meanings which have no semantic
connection are usually called homonyms. The problem
with words which have more than one meaning is that
of creating ambiguity. However we can clearly see from
the examples in our text that the correct meaning of the
word is made immediately transparent by the context, in
our case a legal document. So although many of the
words are polysemic we can say they are
monoreferential since, used in this particular context,
there is absolutely no risk of ambiguity.
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Problems:
– Culture-bound terminology…
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Goal of a simplified, universally
intelligible legal English
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The Plain English Society runs the Plain English Campaign; this
campaign is intended to reduce the amount of jargon and
deliberate obfuscation that comes from specialised services.
The Plain English Society (www.plainenglish.co.uk) publishes
on the web the A-Z guide of legal phrases. This guide is
deliberately aimed at non-lawyers and non-specialist readers
who need explanations for legal phrases used by lawyers
practising the law in England and Wales. The Plain English
Society describes itself as 'an independent organisation fighting
for crystal-clear language and against jargon, gobbledygook
and other confusing language.' The Society awards an
internationally recognised 'Crystal Mark' to award a document
for clarity of language. The Society has had a major impact in
Britain over the past few decades; legal English is one of the
Society's areas of focus.
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All Britons need some basic understanding of the law; most
will encounter legal English in the form of employment
contracts, credit agreements, loan agreements, mortgage
contracts and rental agreements. Moreover, many Britons take
an active interest in legal changes in those areas which touch
everyday lives, for example, SUS laws (laws governing whether
someone can be stopped on suspicion of committing a crime),
property, anti-social behaviour, financial matters, euthanasia,
sexual activity, petty crime, and motoring.
UK newspapers are a useful starting point for the student of
legal reporting; many high-profile crimes are followed in the
press, and as TV cameras are as yet banned in British
courtrooms, some reports may still carry an artist's work
depicting courtroom proceedings.