 Legal language is a language used by the

legal profession, BUT it is not aimed solely at

internal communication within the profession
because it governs all areas of social life.
 Legal language differs from other languages
for specific purposes in the following ways:
 1. It is very old and it goes back to the
beginnings of organised society
 2. It is not used only for internal professional
communication as it affects the life of all
citizens (Plain English for Law movement)
 3. It can absorb terms from any other
professional language
 Archaisms
 Borrowings
◦ (chattel = personal property, estoppel = preventing a party from
contradicting a previous position, parole = release of prisoners on their
word)
 Collocations
◦ (injured party, monetary damages, criminal intent, burden of proof, etc.)
 Ordinary words with special meaning
◦ (action = case/lawsuit, answer = a document in which a defendant
responds, discovery = a formal request to disclose facts, title = legal
recognition of ownership)
 Doubles and triplets
◦ (aid and abet, cease and desist, let or hindrance, sole and exclusive, repair
and make good)
 Pro-forms
 Subordination, nominalisation, passivization, multiple negation
 Special usage of modal verbs
 “To all to whom these presents shall come”
◦ “To whom it may concern”
◦ These presents = this document
 “Whereas”
◦ It being the case that…
 “In witness whereof”
◦ To show that someone has certified a legal
document.
Term Meaning T F

collocation a sequence of words that co-

occur more often than would
be expected by chance

doublet Two or more words having the

same form

modal verb/auxiliary a type of verb that is used to

indicate modality: likelihood,
ability, permission, and
obligation

pro-form a type of function word or

expression that stands for
(expresses the same content as)
another word, phrase, clause or
sentence where the meaning is
recoverable from the context.

synonym A word that has the same form

as another word

syntax The identification, analysis and

description of the structure of a
given language's words
Term Meaning T F

collocation a sequence of words that co- T

occur more often than would
be expected by chance

doublet Two or more words having the F

same form

modal verb/auxiliary a type of verb that is used to T

indicate modality: likelihood,
ability, permission, and
obligation

pro-form a type of function word or T

expression that stands for
(expresses the same content
as) another word, phrase,
clause or sentence where the
meaning is recoverable from
the context.

synonym A word that has the same form F

as another word

syntax The identification, analysis F

and description of the
structure of a given language's
 James II's flight in 1688 had given Parliament the
opportunity to alter the succession to the English
throne and to elect a King. Parliament offered the
throne to William and Mary.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6GPbImtO8
k
 The 1689 Bill of Rights legislated that the
succession to the throne would pass first to any
children of James II's two daughters Mary and
Anne before going to any children born to
William by a second marriage. Mary died in 1694.
 In June 1701 Parliament hoped to resolve the
problem of succession by passing the Act of
Settlement. It confirmed the provision of the Bill
of Rights that no Catholic or person with a
Catholic spouse could rule.
 The Act legislated that, to preserve the Protestant
Succession in case neither Anne nor William had
any more children, the Crown would pass at
Anne's death to a Protestant relation. This was
Sophia, the electress of Hanover in Germany, the
granddaughter of James I.
 Sophia, the electress of Hanover, missed out on
becoming Queen of England by two months, as
she died, aged 84, in June 1714, just before the
death of Queen Anne, aged 49.
 Her son George I succeeded to the throne upon
Anne's death in 1714, and his descendants,
including the current Queen, have ruled Britain
ever since - all because of a decision of
Parliament in 1701 to alter the succession and to
choose its own monarch.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euFpPIKkUJ4
 The aim of the Act was also to strengthen the
guarantees for ensuring a parliamentary
system of government.
 The Act of Settlement further restricted the
powers and prerogatives of the Crown.
 Under the Act, parliamentary consent had to
be given for the Sovereign to engage in war
or leave the country, and judges were to hold
office on good conduct and not at Royal
pleasure - thus establishing judicial
independence.
 Read an extract from The Act of Settlement
(p. 6-7). Which characteristics of legal English
can you find? (Consider the lexical elements:
technical terms, legal doublets, collocations;
also pay attention to syntax, punctuation, the
use of capital letters…)
 The Succession to the Crown Act (2013)
amended the provisions of the Bill of Rights
and the Act of Settlement to end the system
of male primogeniture, under which a
younger son can displace an elder daughter
in the line of succession. The Act applies to
those born after 28 October 2011. The Act
also ended the provisions by which those who
marry Roman Catholics are disqualified from
the line of succession.
 Read The Succession to the Crown Act 2013
(p. 7). In what ways does its style differ from
that of The Act of Settlement 1700? Consider
the lexical elements, punctuation, sentence
structure, the text layout....