Legal English Usage Research: - pruden* - See for sample legal usage presentations Example 1: Presenting a legal-academic term Sample annotated 6-slide Student PowerPoint Presentation of a legal term selected for research in the Legal Vocabulary database and Concordancer April, This offers a basic idea of what students should aim at

Prudent (adjective) Meaning: careful, cautious, sensible Example: “RBC were under no obligation to adopt a higher standard of care than that appropriate to the reasonably prudent parent and, on the facts, were not in breach of their duty.” (Simkiss v Rhondda BC) Noun form:Prudence Adverb form:Prudently Antonym:Imprudent Open with a “profile” of the target term, use an authentic case example & cite the case name – as below…. i.e. opposite ….….etc.

Word after collocations: man, employer, owner The test is what precautions would the ordinary, reasonable and prudent man take? – Paris v Stepney Borough it is often impossible to adduce evidence of what care an ordinarily prudent employer would take – Paris v Stepney Borough The ordinarily prudent owner of a dog does not keep his dog always on a lead on a country highway for fear it may cause injury to a passing motor cyclist – Bolton v Stone First, find out WHO is usually required to “be prudent” [adj. + noun]

Word before collocations: - show how prudent collocates in tort an ordinarily prudent person [9 matches] vs the ordinary prudent person [5 matches]prudent Similarly… a reasonably prudent person [3 matches]prudent a reasonable prudent man [3 matches] but notice….prudent a reasonable and prudent man [10 matches]prudent - so “reasonable” ≠ “prudent”, & these are more commonly found in combination The “frequency” tells us which forms are more common & so useful to learn

Perhaps show how your got the “10 matches”

Standard of care + prudent man/employer “would” – for both principle & application Principle: from Paris v Stepney Borough (1951) The standard of care which the law demands is the care which an ordinarily prudent employer would take in all the circumstances – Paris v Stepney Borough Application: from Paris v Stepney Borough (1951) In the present case the question is whether an ordinarily prudent employer would supply goggles to a one-eyed workman whose job was to knock bolts out of a chassis with a steel hammer while… etc

Prudence & other forms Contributory Negligence: As in England so in Hong Kong a man of ordinary prudence travelling in a motor car would take the precaution of wearing a seat-belt where one is available – Ho Wing Cheung Are we prepared to say that a man of ordinary prudence in Hong Kong would act differently, in relation to the wearing of seat belts, to his counterpart in England? – Ho Wing Cheung Offering the noun form adds nothing - it’s less common & the meaning does not emerge from the examples