Legal latin words and phrases still in practice today

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that every language is the result of history; its never-ending transformation is triggered not only by the history of the people who speak it, but also by human progress and by shifts of regional and even global powers. In this respect, taking into account the social, technological and political events from the recent decades, which led especially to the proliferation of the Anglo-American culture and civilization, the English language has undeniably become the language of communication at the international level. Moreover, the main feature of our modern society is the spread of multilingualism and specialized languages, such as legal language, economic language, technical language, medical language, etc. However, it is noteworthy that the contemporary English legal language is more than the result of social interactions against a certain (legal) background. On the one hand, it is shaped by the legal professionals (such as judges, lawyers, barristers, counselors etc.) who use it on a daily basis. On the other hand, it was modeled by a centuries-long troubled history, marked by invasions, raiders and conquests (i.e. Anglo-Saxon invaders, Roman conquest, Scandinavian raiders and Norman Conquest). In this regard, we may state that the very elements that created the English nation also have deeply influenced the English language. The aim of this paper is to emphasize the key role played by Latin in shaping the English legal language. Across the past centuries, especially as far as Europe is concerned, Latin was used as a lingua franca, deeply influencing almost all European cultures and languages. Furthermore, due to the expansion of the Roman Empire (which peaked at the beginning of the first millennia AD and then slowly faded away), Latin represented the common language of justice. Although Latin is no longer a lingua franca, being replaced nowadays by other modern languages such as English, French, German and Spanish, it has left its traces on the cotemporary English legal language, in terms of style, vocabulary and register.