Characteristics of Legal English

Legal language 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 v. Other LSPs 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

Characteristics of Legal English Archaisms Borrowings Collocations Ordinary words with special meaning Doubles and triplets Pro-forms Subordination, nominalisation, passivization, multiple negation Special usage of modal verbs

Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). If false, provide the correct information. 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-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

Bill of Rights 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.

The Act of Settlement 1701 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. 

Assignment 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 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.

Assignment 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....

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