In recent
years, as the globalization of
economy is promoted, the
connection between countries becomes
closer and closer. There has
been increasing fields which
crosses the field of law.
This trend has made the
society being short of
foreign-related legal talents, and
the conception of 'legal
English' has come to people's
life. The so-called 'legal
English' was a kind of
ESP (English for Special
Purposes), which uses English to
record legal documents such as
legal rules, agreements, contracts.
Just as business English, legal
English has its own unique
vocabulary, sentence patterns, as
well as expressions. As
'most of the disputes in
the world arise from
words', understanding
the characteristics of legal
English shows great significance
to both the translation of
foreign legal files and legal
practice between foreign
countries.The tremendous
vocabulary system of legal
English has noted that the
diversity of the sources thereof
can not be ignored in the
construction of its
characteristics.This essay
will put emphasis on the
sourcesof legal
English vocabulary and the
reasons behind it. It will
be divided into two parts,
among which the
sourcesare divided
as Latin, French, Old
English, new use of ordinary
words, creation of new words,
and ordinary words.It
will go over the origin
of legal English vocabulary as
well as the examples in
practice. Before going
into the topic, we must
clarify the definition of legal
English. According to Professor David
Mellinkoff, legal language is
'the language which lawyers use
in common judicial activities in
English-speaking countries'.
Obviously, this definition excludes
the language used in legal
rules, regulations, legislations,
contracts or other law-related
files. This definition also
excludes the language used by
judges, judicial officials, or
other legal practitioners. However,
although this definition is
quite different from the
definition of 'legal English',
the two terms have some
crossed field. Firstly, ilegal English can be
regarded as one part that
is subject to the language
of law. And secondly, in
terms of the properties, terms
equivalent of the language of
law can be the language
of business, the language of
music. Similarly, terms equivalent
of legal English can be
business English, or music
English. Thus, they both refer
to one particular field of
practical language. The author thinks that, the
definition of legal English can
be a kind ofESP
(English for Special Purposes),
which is usedto record legal documents
such as legal rules, agreements,
contracts, or to be
spoken by legal practitioners
such as judges, lawyers,
officials of judicial
branch. As a kind of professional
English, the vocabulary of legal
English has its own system
of etymon, in which a
huge linguistic setup is
constructed through various kings
of sources. The frequent
use of Latin words and
phrases is an apparent
characteristic of legal English.
Many old English from the
Middle ages are also used
in legal English. Another source
of legal English is French,
which was almost brought by
the Norman Conquest of 1066.
And also, new use of
ordinary words, creation of new
words, and ordinary words must
be counted in as
sources. After doing
research into the phenomenon, we
need to know the reasons
behind this phenomenon, and the
author is going to analyze
from the historical reasons and
the practical reasons. The
practical reasons can be equal
to the significance as
well. Form the
perspective of history, in BC
55-54 Britain was invaded by
Roman raids who were led
by Julius Caesar, and it
became the recorded history of
Britain ever since. As the
official language of government
of Roman is Latin, this
is the very point that
Latin had its influence on
English. During the
period of Roman occupation, the
development of law happened
naturally under the strong rule
of Roman conqueror. Thus
the later normal legal system
was more or less influenced
by the early Romans. At the beginning
of the 5thcentury, Britain was invaded by
three tribes from the Northern
Europe: the Angles, Saxons, and
Jut
