Unit 1

LANGUAGE AND LAW

SNJEŽANA HUSINEC, PHD; E-MAIL: SHUSINEC@PRAVO.HR

Part One:
Languages for Specific Purposes and Legal English
1. How do you explain the following terms?

LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

LEGAL ENGLISH

2. Give examples of different LSPs!

Language for Specific Purposes and Legal
English
I Discuss the questions in exercise I on p. 3.

II a) Try to answer with your partner the questions in exercise II.

b) Read the text entitled Lanuage for specific purposes (LSP) and check your answers.

Give examples of professionals who have the need to use specialised language.
What are their specific needs concerning language?
Language for Specific Purposes
Explain the following expressions and provide the Croatian equivalents:
1. language for specific purposes =
2. students’ and speacialists’ need =
3. field of work or study =
4. technical terms =
5. Latin has exerted influence on modern legal languages =
6. internal professional communication =
7. law governs all areas of life =
8. plain language movement =
9. wide regulatory scope of law =
10. to absorb terms from professional languages =
Legal English – lexical characteristics
Read the first five paragraphs of the text entitled LEGAL ENGLISH and find the main
characteristics of legal English. Fill in the first column of the table on p. 5.
Legal English – lexical characteristics
Read the first five paragraphs of the text and extract from the text the main features of legal
English. Fill in the first column of table in ex. III, p. 5.

Characteristics of Legal English Examples

archaisms
borrowings
collocations
phrasal verbs
ordinary words with specific
legal meaning
legal doublets
pro-forms
Legal English – syntactic features
Read the second last paragraphs and find the syntactic features of legal English. Provide
examples.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Legal English – modal verbs
Read the last paragraph and find the modal verbs used in Legal English.
1. a)
b)
2.
3.
4. a)
b)
Legal English – modal verbs
1. a) SHALL – legal imperative, obligation, ‘has a duty to’
Everyone SHALL abide by the Constitution and law and respect the legal order of the Republic.
b) SHALL NOT – prohibition
These conditions SHALL NOT apply if …
2. MUST – requirement, obligation
The securities MUST fulfill the following essential requirements.
3. SHOULD – non-mandatory provision, recommendation, goal
The parties SHOULD in their discretion use an approved expert to carry out the tasks.
4. a) MAY – permission and authorisation
The Company MAY assign this Agreement with prior written consent of the other party.
b) MAY NOT– exception to a general permission –
The second condition MAY NOT apply …
Part Two:
Characteristics of Legal English: Examples
Read example I – The Act of Settlement (1700) and find the characteristics of legal English:
Technical terms -
Legal doublets -
Collocations -
Modal verbs -
…
Read example II – The Succession to the Crown Act 2013. How is it different from the Act of Settlement
1700?
Lexical elements –
Sentece structure –
Text layout –
….
Part Three: History of English

Define the following geographical names?

The British Isles =
The United Kingdom =
Great Britain =Wales =
Northern Ireland =
Ireland=

Answer the questions in ex. I.

Study the chart.
Sources of Legal English
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
1. Which languages have influenced English?
2. How was it influenced by those languages?
3. Are the influences visible in the modern Legal English?

Read the text and check your answers.