Some lexical features of English legal language

        Legal translation is understood as the translation of technical materials within the field of law. Correspondingly, legal language is a distinct language easy to some extent to those familiar with it, but to whom with which are unfamiliar is of certain difficulty. In other words, Legal language is characterised by a specific language and therefore a specific terminology. So, the would-be translator of this particular type of language must add to his or her knowledge some lexical features of English legal language and this will be the chief concern of this article.

       -1- Terms of Latin and French origin:

        One of many noticeable features of English legal lexicon is the existence of Latinisms (Latin terms) in its terminology. Alcaraz & Brian (2002: 5)1 link the presence of such terms to certain reasons; we briefly consider them. In the first place, it was inevitable for English law to escape the influence of Latin which was supported by the power of the Roman church over Europe at that time, and also to its widespread use throughout this place of earth as a language of learning and literature. In addition to the incredible power of the Roman law which was a coherent written system, and had strength of an institution over a considerable area of Europe. Here are some Latin phrases and words in common use:

       - Bona fide (good faith or in good faith)

       -  Res judicata (an issue adjucated)

       -  Bes nova ( a new thing; an undecided question of law)

       -  Actus reus (guilty act)

       -  Alibi (elsewhere; the fact or state of having been elsewhere when an offence was committed) (Garner, B. A, 2001)2 

       Like Latinisms, the existence of legal French terms within English legal language is also apparent. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the language of the invaders gained an undeniable position in the legal sphere of England, bringing with it a wealth of legal French terminology (Crystal & Davy 1986: 208) 3. As a case of illustration, the following terms are originally French:

       - Contract, proposal, schedule, terms, conditions, policy, alias, quash and so on.

       -2- Archaic diction of legal English:

       Legal English lexicon is considerably made of archaic legal terms. However, this touch of Archaism is not in vain, it is done on purpose. There are reasons behind this tendency towards archaic words. Tiersma (1999)4 states that “legal language often strives toward great formality, it naturally gravitates towards archaic language” p. 95.

       According to this quotation, archaisms give a flavor of formality to the language to which they belong. Some lawyers prefer to use antique terms instead of new ones. For example, they use ‘imbibe’ as an alternative of ‘drink’, ‘inquire’ rather than ‘ask’, ‘peruse’ instead of ‘read’, ‘forthwith’ as a substitution of ‘right away’ or ‘at once’ and so on. (Examples are used by Alcaraz & Brian, 2002)5. Another convenient example is the use of the verb ‘witnesseth’ with the preservation of an ‘eth’ ending for the third person singular of the present tense as an alternative of the current morpheme ‘es’ ‘witnesses’.

       There exist also some archaic adverbs, they are actually a mixture of deictic elements: ‘here’ ‘there’ and ‘where’ with certain prepositions: of, after, by, under etc (Alcaraz & Brian, 2002)6. By way of illustration, here are some examples along with their Arabic translations:

       Source language Target language

       - The parties hereto agree as follow.

       - Hereinafter referred to as wife.

       - The total rent for the term hereof is the sum of________.  - تم اتفاق الطرفين بموجب هذا العقد على ما يلي.

       - المشار إليه فيما ب

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页