Distinctive features of

legal English
Beatriz Pérez Cabello de Alba

UNED

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 Index
1. Introduction
2. Specialised languages
• ESP
• Plain English
3. Legal English
• Peculiarities
• Lexical features (vocabulary)
• Syntactic features (grammar)
• Other features (e.g. punctuation)
4. Debate

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 1. Introduction
English for Special Purposes (ESP) as an academic discipline:
– English for Law (also English for Science and Technology, English for
Business, etc.)

Special features of specialised languages:

– Pragmatic: communicative situation (lecture, meeting, etc.) and
participants (experts to experts; experts to non-experts, etc.).
– Cognitive: topic and how that topic is expressed.
– Linguistic:
• Phonologic: pronunciation.
• Lexical: vocabulary (terminology).
• Syntactic: grammatical rules.
• Textual organization: how information in a text is organised.

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 2. Specialised languages: Common features
• Mainly found in written form.
• Some inherent features of LSP:
- Specialised topic.
- Rare /archaic grammatical rules (subjunctive).
- High frequency of certain constructions (passive structures, nominalisation,
noun compounds, etc.)
- Lexical restrictions (vocabulary):
• Specialised or “technical” terms:
adjournment (aplazamiento), litigation (litigio), jurisdiction
(jurisdicción), eviction (lanzamiento), etc.
• Semi-technical terms: words from the common language that have
acquired one or more new meanings within a certain field of knowledge
by meaning extension.
action for “proceso/demanda”; hand for “firma”; service for
“notificación”, etc.

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 2. Specialised languages: Plain English
• Uses the active voice as opposed to the passive voice.
• Avoids the use of indefinite pronouns:
❌ After the Administrator appoints an Assistant, he or she shall
supervise the…
– he or she: the Administrator or the Assistant?
 After the Administrator appoints an Assistant, the Administrator
shall supervise the…
• Avoids the use of “shall”:
– “Must” for legal obligations
– “Will” to refer to the future
• Uses the imperative instead of the passive voice.
❌ All copies must be signed

 Sign all copies

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 2. Specialised languages: Plain English
• Tends to use simple words:
❌ Construct, fabricate  √ make

❌ Substantial portion  √ large part

• Avoids complex prepositions:

❌ Because of the fact of  √ since / because

❌ In many cases  √ often

• Avoids nominal compounds:

❌ Underground mine worker safety protection procedures
development
 Development of procedures for the protection of the safety of
mine workers
x Children Act proceedings 
 proceedings under the Children Act
• Tends to use short sentences.
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 3. Legal English: Peculiarities (general)

Peculiarities
• Type of vocabulary (Anglo-Saxon vs. Greco-Latin).
– spare / superfluous
– blame / culpability
– put off / postpone
• Length and complexity of sentences.
• Archaisms and fixed expressions (e.g. Latin expressions “ne bis in
idem”; “witnesseth”).
• Specific collocations, i.e. words that generally go together with
other words:
• √ The fast train vs.❌ the quick train
• √ Fast food vs. ❌ quick food
• √ A quick shower vs. ❌ a fast shower
• √ A quick meal vs. ❌ a fast meal

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

A. Shortage of synonyms
- Legal terminology is characterised by one-to-one correspondences among
words and definitions:
• Theft ≠ robbery ≠ burglary

- There are cases of quasi-synonyms:

• Abolish ≈ overturn ≈ reverse ≈ quash ≈ overrule

B. Polisemy: word with several meanings. It can be a source of confusion:

– “Issue” = “offspring” / “an important matter” / “a case”
– “Provision” = “supply” / “a rule”
– “Defence” =
• The act of defending oneself
• A reply to an action (in civil proceedings)
• An exemption from guilt (“Ignorance of the law is no defence”)

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

C. Lexical repetition:
“The SEC has reinforced the insider trading restrictions with promulgation
of Rule 14e-3 of the SEC, an independent provision prohibiting insider
trading in connection with tender offers. Congress has further reinforced
these trading restrictions by providing the SEC with the power to seek a
treble penalty under the Insider Trading Sanctions Act of 1984 (ITSA). This
legislation empowers the SEC to base enforcement actions on any
recognized theory of insider trading restriction.”
D. Terms of French origin: on parole, femme sole, etc.
– Suffix –ge: damages, demurrage, etc.
– Suffix –or/-er: debtor, employer, etc.
– Suffix –ee: employee, appellee, etc.

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

E. Latinisms:
– He represented himself as a bona fide purchaser.
– Some crimes require proof of both actus reus and mens rea.
F. Formal register and archaic forms: e.g. “Whereas the party of
the first part witnesseth that…”
– Compound adverbs: Wherefore (en consecuencia), hereinafter (en lo
sucesivo), thereby (por lo tanto) , thereunder (en función del mismo) ,
whereby (por lo cual), thereunto (a ello), etc.
– Expressions: Pursuant to (de conformidad con), without prejudice to
(sin perjuicio de), in accordance with (de acuerdo con),
notwithstanding (no obstante), having regard to (considerando), in
witness whereof (en testimonio/fe de), etc.
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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

G. Redundancy: doublets and triplets: near-synonyms which

combine words with Anglo-Saxon and Greco-Latin origin.

false and untrue sole and exclusive

alter and change mind and memory
null and void last will and testament

give, devise and bequeath

rest, residue and remainder
order, adjudge and decree
nominate, constitute and appoint

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

H. False friends: words with similar forms but different meanings:

• Sequestration: √ freezing of assets (❌ kidnapping/abduction).

• Denounce (moral sense) – report (legal).

• Affirmation: √ “promesa solemne” (❌ “statement”).

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

I. Vocabulary with Greco-

Latin roots (very formal)
vs. Anglo-Saxon roots:

• put off / postpone

• teenager / adolescent
• look into / investigate
• near / adjacent
• run over / examine
• spare / superfluous
• go back / return
• spouse / husband or wife
• get away / escape
• make up for / compensate

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 3. Legal English: Lexical features

J. Euphemisms:

• Detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure: for an indefinite period.

• Act of God: unforeseen natural disaster or calamity due to the forces of
nature (force majeure).

UK:
• A litigation friend (next friend): disability, underage (minors) or overage.
• A McKenzie friend: a person who assists a litigant in court (layman).

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

A. Passive voice: It is frequent in legal English because it puts the

emphasis on the action or its result, not on the agent of the action:

“No person has been authorised to give any information or make any
representation other than those contained or incorporated by reference
in this joint proxy statement/prospectus and, if given or made, such
information or representation must not be relied upon as having been
authorised.”

Subject + verb + direct object


Direct object + auxiliary be + participle

We can make emphasis on the subject by recovering it with the

preposition “by”:
• No person has been authorised by the president to give any
information […]

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

B. Syntactic complexity
- Long and complex sentences.
- Several levels of subordination.

“The Chief Land Registrar shall, where the dwelling-house with respect to
which the right to buy is a registered land, supply him, if so requested by
the Secretary of State, with an office copy of any document required by
the State Secretary on payment of the appropriate fee.”

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

C. Complex prepositional phrases

- Preposition + (article) + noun + preposition.

Complex prepositonal phrase Equivalent

In the event of If
By virtue of By
For the reason that Because
In pursuance of According to
For the purpose of To/for
In accordance with Under
In respect of Under
In conformity with Under/according to

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

D. Complex prepositional phrases: examples in context

• “Organised criminal group” shall mean a structured group of three or
more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the
aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences established in
accordance with this Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly,
a financial or other material benefit.

• Member States shall adopt all necessary measures for the automatic
granting of authorisations required for the pursuit of any employment
referred to in Articles 2 and 3. Conditions for granting such authorisations
shall in no instance be less liberal than the conditions in respect of offers
to named persons as laid down by the measures taken in pursuance of
Articles 48 and 49 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

E. Prepositional-adverbial compounds

Preposition/adverb compound Equivalent

Herein In this document, mentioned here
Hereby By this document
Hereinafter In the rest of this document or text / from
now on
Hereto To this text or document
Herewith Attached, accompanying this document or
text
Hereof Of this document or text
Heretofore So far, up to this moment
Thereafter After that, in the future
Hereupon On this, immediately after this
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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

E. Prepositional-adverbial compounds: examples

• (…) It is thereupon ordered and adjudged…

• The member States of the Council of Europe and the other Signatories
hereto.

• An agreement made between John Doe (hereinafter called The Landlord)

of the one part and Rachel Smith (hereinafter called The Tenant) of the
other part whereby it is agreed as follows:

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

F. Tendency to avoid negation with “not”

1. Alternative use of words with negative meaning:
– Never
– Unless
– Except
– Fail to
2. Alternative use of terms with a negative prefix:
– Un- : unauthorised, undesirable
– Il- : illegal
– Im- : impossible
– Ir- : irregular
– In: incomplete
– Dis- : discontinue, dissatisfied
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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

F. Tendency to avoid negation with “not”: examples

– If those measures fail to secure compliance on the part of the credit

institution (…).

– The production of euro coins is decided and organised on a national

basis, and typically falls under the responsibility of each country’s
national mint, except for countries without a mint which commission
coins from other producers.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

G. Prepositions detached from their complement.

– Protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in
firearms, their parts and components and ammunition.
– (…) the concealment or disguise of the true nature, source,
location, disposition, movement, rights with respect to, or
ownership of, property.
– Investigative assistance and provisional measures sought in
paragraph 2.b shall be carried out as permitted by and in
accordance with the internal law of the requesting Party.
– The requesting Party shall also provide without delays all
complementary information requested by the requested Party
and which is necessary for the implementation of and the
follow up to the provisional measures.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

H. “to be + to + verb” construction

It refers to a future obligation or substitutes “must/have to”.
– There is to be no right of appeal against the rejection of the
application.

– For the gradual establishment of such an area, the Community is to

adopt measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters
having cross-border implications and needed for the proper
functioning of the internal market.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features
I. Subjunctive
The subjunctive has practically disappeared from colloquial English.
It has been substituted by:
– The verb in present or past tense:
• It’s essential that you are here on time.
• I demanded that he apologised.
– “Should”:
• What do you suggest we should do?

The subjunctive is formed in the following way:

– Adjective/noun/verb + (that) + subject + infinitive (without “to”).

– IMPORTANT: there is no verb-subject concordance.

• It’s essential that you be here on time.
• I demanded that he apologise.
• What do you suggest we do?

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

I. Subjunctive
The subjunctive is used:
– After verbs like “ask”, “advise”, “command”, “demand”, “insist”,
“order”, “propose”, “recommend”, “request”, “require”,
“suggest”, “urge”:
• Even though someone may be eligible for an informal
hearing, we will recommend that he attend a formal
hearing.
• Each Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as
may be necessary to empower its courts or other competent
authorities to order that bank, financial or commercial
records be made available or be seized in order to carry out
the actions referred to in Articles 3, 4, and 5.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

I. Subjunctive

– After adjectives like “important”, “essential”, “crucial”,

“advisable”, “urgent”, etc.:
• It is crucial that he be granted the opportunity to
present evidence to the court.
• It is essential that the Commission send the report.
– After nouns, in expressions like:
• There is also the recommendation that the Council
meet every week.
• There is the necessity that funding be found urgently.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

I. Subjunctive

The use of the subjunctive can be even more complex when the
sentence is in the passive voice, when there is a negative
structure or when there is a continuous tense:

– They recommended that he be hired for the job.

– He insisted that Mary not be there.

– It is important that she be waiting for the boss when he

comes.
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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

J. Inversion: adverb + verb/operator + subject + complements

– They will start to react…
– Only then will they start to react…

Subject-operator inversion:
– With negative or restrictive elements at the beginning of the
sentence:
• Rarely have I seen such a thing.
– With expressions with “so” y “such”, “neither” or “nor”:
• So badly was he affected that he had to be taught to speak
again.
• I saw him. So did I.
• I don’t like milk. Nor do I.
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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

J. Inversion:

- Fixed expressions:
• God save the Queen!
• So be it!

– Conditionals without “if” (they are usually formed with have “had”,
“should” o “were”):
• Had she known about it, she wouldn’t have gone.
• Were I in your place, I wouldn´t do it.
• Should you need more details, do not hesitate to contact us.

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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

K. Nominalisation: transformation of a verbal predicate into a noun.

– Conversion of a verb into a noun:
To face  face.
To study  study.

– Derivation: (-ism, -tion, -ure, etc.): The decision of the

government.

• Nominalization makes texts very dense.

• Generally, nominalisations come together with post-modification:

– The noun is followed by modifiers :
• The payment of the rent to the owner.
• The payment to the owner of the rent.
– Post-modification helps to avoid ambiguity..
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 3. Legal English: syntactic features

• Examples of nominalizations with pre-modification in legal English:

– Sentencing Guidelines Council.

– Antisocial Behaviour Orders.
– applicable inheritance tax.
– liable joint holders.
– multi-track cases standard procedure.
– recommended case management conference.

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 3. Legal English: other features

Punctuation:

- In legal texts, style is not generally a priority. This means that clarity of
the contents is more important than the form in which those contents
are expressed.

- Hardly any attention is paid to punctuation, which is usually scarce or

absent.

- Consequently, a careful reading of the text is necessary.

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 4. Debate

TEXT FOR DEBATE: PLAIN LEGAL ENGLISH

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 4. Debate: Plain English
:
High Court judge uses emojis to help children understand
family law judgment

A High Court judge has embraced the modern world and used
emojis to help children involved in a family dispute understand
https://www.legal
his judgment more easily.
cheek.com/2016/
09/high-court-
judge-uses-emojis- In what is thought to be an English legal first, Mr Justice Peter
to-help-children- Jackson has used the popular smiley face symbols to explain a
understand- complex point of evidence. Opting to use them on several
family-law- occasions, the emojis (unfortunately) don’t appear in the
judgment/ online version of the judgment.
As well as using simple language throughout, Jackson, who
became a High Court judge back in 2010, reveals that he has
kept things as “short as possible so that the mother and the
older children can follow it”.
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4. Debate

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 4. Debate

• The case in question involved a British Muslim convert, who

allegedly tried to take four children — a brother and sister
plus two younger children of whom he is the biological
father — to Syria. The family, who are originally from
Lancashire, were eventually stopped by authorities in
Istanbul, Turkey.
• Jackson, avoiding complex legalese, explained to two of the
children, aged 10 and 12, why they would have only limited
contact with their father going forward. Referred to only as
“Mr A” in the judgment for legal reasons, the father is
currently serving an 18-year prison sentence after being
found guilty of firearms offences earlier this summer.
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JUDGMENT: Lancashire County Council v M and others
Mr Justice Peter Jackson:
1. This judgment is as short as possible so that the mother and the older
children can follow it.

2. The case is about a white British family. There are four children – H [a boy
aged 12], A [a girl aged 10], N [a boy aged 3] and R [a girl aged 10 months]. Since
July they have been living with foster carers. The younger children see their
mother four times a week. The older children are at school and they come twice a
week. The meetings have gone well. The mother and the children are very close
and want to live together again. The mother now lives with her own mother, who
I will call the grandmother.

3. When H and A were born, the mother was living with their father, Mr B. They
were together for about 8 years. After that, Mr B moved out, but he and the
children still see each other and the children also see his parents. At times Mr B
has been sent to prison for violence. He has also used drugs but says that he has
not done that since the last time he went to prison in 2013. H and A see their
father and grandparents at the weekends and everyone enjoys that. 37
JUDGMENT: Lancashire County Council v M and others

4. In 2009, the mother met Mr A, the father of the younger children. He

was in the army when he was young, but that didn’t last long. In 2004, he
was sent to prison for robberies. When the mother met him, he was just
about to come out. As soon as he came out, he moved into the family home.
He got on well with H and A, and they had some good times. Then N and R
were born and everyone was happy about that.

5. Unfortunately, there have been some serious problems, ending up with

the children being taken away and Mr A being arrested and kept in prison.

6. Children can’t be taken away from their parents unless social services
prove to a judge that it would be harmful for them to live at home. If children
are taken away, judges will always try to return them if that is safe.

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Thank you for your attention!

Beatriz Pérez Cabello de Alba

Departamento de Filologías Extranjeras y sus Lingüísticas
Facultad de Filología – UNED
bperez-cabello@flog.uned.es

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