Legal English is the style of English used by lawyers and other legal professionals in the course of their work. It has particular relevance when applied to legal writing and the drafting of written material, including:
- legal documents: contracts, licences, etc.
- court pleadings: summonses, briefs, judgments, etc.
- laws: Acts of parliament and subordinate legislation, case reports
- legal correspondence
Legal English has traditionally been the preserve of lawyers from English-speaking countries (especially the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) which have shared common law traditions. However, due to the spread of English as the predominant language of international business, as well as its role as a legal language within the European Union, legal English is now a global phenomenon. It is also referred to casually as lawspeak or legalese.
Read more about Legal English: Historical Development, Key Features, Education
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or english:
“We should stop looking to law to provide the final answer.... Law cannot save us from ourselves.... We have to go out and try to accomplish our goals and resolve disagreements by doing what we think is right. That energy and resourcefulness, not millions of legal cubicles, is what was great about America. Let judgment and personal conviction be important again.”
—Philip K. Howard, U.S. lawyer. The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, pp. 186-87, Random House (1994)
“The English public, as a mass, takes no interest in a work of art until it is told that the work in question is immoral.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)