Generally used as a pejorative term for written forms of legal English, legal language is characterized by verbosity, Latin expressions, nominalizations, embedded sentences, passive verbs, and long sentences. One of the reasons why so-called «legal language» still exists depends on how court decisions are made. When deciding cases, judges are often guided by how similar cases have been decided in the past. They read written judgments from old cases and use them to guide their decisions in current cases. This helps to bring predictability and consistency to the law. It is also easier for lawyers to predict the outcome of similar cases they handle for clients. A lawyer who is more familiar with similar cases from the past can better advise the client in the current situation. An unintended by-product of this constant review of past cases is that outdated terms are passed on over and over again. Also, the use of certain legal expressions can help a lawyer create legal documents for a client. People, and lawyers in particular, often disagree on what certain terms mean in important legal documents.
Indeed, how a particular word or phrase is interpreted can make all the difference in a case. When preparing legal documents, a good lawyer tries to think of all the ways in which a particular word or phrase could be interpreted. Taking into account these different interpretations, the lawyer drafts the document in such a way as to avoid future misinterpretations. It is essential to protect against future efforts to redefine or misinterpret the meaning of certain words and phrases against a client`s interest. Unfortunately, this requires the use of more words, usually more than necessary, turning a one-page document into several. «Legal language» is a way for an experienced lawyer to make a document more concise while protecting the client from future battles over the meaning of words. Some words and phrases have very specific meanings in the legal context. Some of them are Latin terms derived from legal issues decided on the other side of the world more than a hundred years ago. Force majeure A natural disaster that occurs beyond human control and for which no one can be held responsible.
The term dates back to the 13th century. It was used to refer to acts taken by God. Now it is usually used in connection with the force majeure clause to serve as an event that releases the parties from their contractual obligations. Many companies adopt legal language because they make a contract or legal document more valid and official. Some companies also believe that using legal language brings authority and adds more weight and credibility to their business. Instead, they aim to get their message across as effectively and directly as possible. The easiest way to do this in many cases is to use legal language. It`s natural if the person they`re communicating with is familiar with the terminology. Write an essay of about two to three paragraphs that defines legal language as it should do and how it differs from normal language. The language of the American legal system is heavily influenced by Latin. As a result, many Latin terms taken from their original text have been translated into a language commonly used by jurists called the legal language.
Learn more about why lawyers use legal language by reading this article. The most common place where you can find legal language is in a contract. Indeed, contract lawyers, when drafting a contract, may find it necessary to use terminology for lack of a better word. Some joke that lawyers use legal language so they can charge higher fees. While this is not entirely true, as mentioned above, there may be some truth to this. Just as a physician needs to know a lot about technical terms when diagnosing and treating patients, lawyers also need to know the language of the law to do their job effectively. This is partly why clients pay legal fees. Clients hire trained and qualified lawyers to help them navigate their legal questions and documents. Jury A sworn panel of people who rule on a question of fact referred to them by a court. Singapore no longer has a jury trial, where the jury decides whether an accused is guilty or not.
Also, legal language makes users feel alienated, as most people outside of the lawyer are not familiar with legalese. While legal language can be helpful in situations such as legal writing, it`s not always the best choice lawyers can use for language. As it is not generally understood, there may be communication problems between lawyers and clients. There are laws around the world that explicitly prohibit the use of legal language in legal policies. Here are three main reasons why you should avoid legal language when creating your legal and business policies. Use plain language instead of legal language to make users happy and attract more customers. In short, there is always another way to use language that does not involve the use of legal language. Since a large part of the population is not familiar with the foreign language, it may be better to eliminate its use to allow for more direct understanding.