 Origin and development of English Language.

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 58

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.