摘要本文尝试探索法律英语文本的词汇特征。
随着改革开放的以来中国对外政策的调整，中国与世界的沟通日益频繁，涉外案件也随之增多。
由于英语是世界上各国之间交流的重要语言工具之一，法律英语的运用也就更加频繁，尤其是在经济领域。
法律是用来规范法律主体之间的权利与义务的，其语言具有正式、保守、权威、准确等特征，是统治者统治国家的工具。
对于律师、法官等法律工作者来讲，法律英语的学习不可或缺，这也是他们最应熟悉的“工作语言”。
然而，法律英语又以其晦涩、难懂等特点而不被大众所接受。
甚至在英语语言国家法律也被称作一门“外语”。
作为科技英语的一种，法律不仅有着与科技文本共同的特征，还有一些为其所特有。
在众多法律英语的特点中，词汇特征最为突出。
本篇论文将从古语、外来词、术语、成对词在法律文本中的运用等方面结合实例展开论述，从而探索法律英语的词汇特征。
研究结果显示，对法律英语词汇特征的掌握对学习法律英语大有裨益。
并且有助于提高外国法律文献的翻译水平，使我国立法者准确借鉴，进而提高我国立法水平。
最后，作者希望本篇论文可以对研究法律词汇的演变有所启发。
关键词：法律英语，词汇特征，古语，术语ABSTRACTThe present thesis is an attempt to discover the lexical characteristics of law English. With the continuously intensifying communication between China and the word, the growth in quantity of foreign-related cases is an inevitable result. Consequently, law English plays an all the more important role notably in economic field. Due to the special function of law which is to formulate people‘s rights and obligations hence to facilitate the domination of ruling class, law English is endowed with the nature of formalness, exactness, precision and accuracy.Nevertheless, law English is ―infamous‖ for the obscure and obsolete expressions that even in English-speaking countries legal English is regarded as a ―foreign language‖. Among the many unique features of legislative English, a variety of EST (English of Science and Technology), lexical characteristics are the most outstanding ones. This article will be devoted to illustrate the origin and features of legal English lexis from the aspects of archaism, foreign expressions, terms and paired words, aiming at generalizing the universal principles and common phenomena in legislative texts.The results of this study demonstrate that a good comprehension of the unique features of law English can contribute a lot to the study of law English and the translation of foreign law documents. The author hopes this paper can throw light on the study of the evolution of English vocabulary.KEY WORDS: law English, lexical features, archaism, terminologyContentsIntroduction (4)Chapter One Archaism (5)Chapter Two Foreign Origin Words (8)2.1 Latin Words and Latinized English (8)2.2 Old French words (10)Chapter Three Terminology (12)3.1 semi-technical terms (12)3.2 pure technical terms (13)3.2.1 Legal Terms (13)3.2.2 Borrowed Terms (14)Chapter Four Paired Words (16)1.1 paired synonyms (16)1.2 paired antonyms (17)Conclusion (18)Bibliography (19)IntroductionLaw English refers to the language of law of England, America and some other countries whose official language is English, such as Canada, Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. Most of these countries belong to the Common Law system or English—American Law system, which mainly consist of case law and equity law.Distinguished from demotic English, legal English is falls into the category of English for specific purpose, scientific English, medical English, business English and financial English alike (Tom, H. &A. Waters, 2002:16).According to Martin Joos‘ classification (1957) of the range of formality, legal documents belong to the frozen level (the most solemn one) for that law is the embodiment of the ruler‘s sovereignty. To render the high formality and dignity, law composers often adopt words and phrase that are only applicable to law articles. As a consequence, law is notable for the merits of formalness, precision, conciseness and authoritativeness, but only in the specialist community. Common people are beset with those obscure expressions and antique words. Although, in recent years there has been continual process of simplification and clarification, the gap between legislative language and everyday lexicon is still very wide.In the wake of globalization and prosper of some super English—speaking countries, people get more access to law English especially in economic field. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the lexical features of law texts, not only for those legal professions (lawyers, judges, law translators, etc.) but also for every one as some common senses.This paper will elaborate the lexical characteristics of legal English in the following aspects: archaism, foreign words, terms, paired words. Notwithstanding, it is impossible to fully detail all the examples, the author still singles out some typical ones for the reader‘s references.Chapter One ArchaismA profusion of archaism exists in legal documents. Archaism refers to old English prevailed during the period from Norman conquest to 1100AD and the middle English used in the period from1100 to 1500AD.Over centuries, all kinds the old—fashioned, obscure, antique English words have been abandoned or annulled from daily life, especially from oral English system. However, archaic expressions continue to thrive in the legislative writings and judicial activities. Some primitive words are passed down relying on some ancient careers as navigation, missionary professions. Until now clergymen consistently quote the classical sentences in the King James Bible.Attribute to the convention left by the long history of the common law system, case law is the main resource for the law drafter to formulate laws and regulations. The principle ―Stare Decisis‖, or the doctrine of binding precedent, is more precisely known as ‗Stare rationibus decidendis‘ (keep to the decisions of past cases). Generally speaking, the doctrine operates to secure certainty in the law by following previous decisions, in case they are inconsistent with a higher court‘s decision or wrong in law. Spontaneously, judges would go through the files to see if there are some references when facing a new case.―Legal language often strives toward great formality; it naturally gravitates towards archaic language.‖(Tiersma 1999:95) Apart from formality, antique words also reflect the conservative of legal English. ―What has been tested and found adequate i s best not altered.‖(Cristal & David 1986:213) To avoid ambiguity that may generated by changing the original words recorded on the file paper, most of the archaism are kept unchanged and now has become the unique feature of legal texts. Further, law has b een the reflection of the dominants‘ will, and aims at maintain the majesty and supreme status. Therefore, archaism does remain in the legislative texts in light of the formality, conservation, correctness and perfectly contribute to the fulfillment of the mission of law.The majority of the archaic words are the combination of here, there, where with a preposition; typical ones are enumerated in the following table:More examples:Attachments hereof shall be made an integral part of this contract and effective as any other provisions of this contract.Neither party hereto shall assign this agreement or any of its rights and interests hereunder without the other party‘s prior written consent.When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the Executive Authority thereof show issue rights of election to fill such vacancies.A contract of marine insurance is a contract whereby the issuer undertakesto identify the assured.―Legal English h as retained several morphological forms which have died out in daily English‖ (郝雪靓2006). The representative one is the use of witness with the meaning of testify, witnesseth being the third person singular present form. For instance:In witness whereof, I have set my hand…This policy witnesseth that…Other archaism like aforementioned, aforesaid, thence, thenceforth, etc. are also commonly found in legal texts.To conclude, the employment of archaism helps to ensure the accuracy, formalness and authoritativeness of legal English while at the same time tougher to understand.Chapter Two Foreign Origin WordsAnother merit of legal English which can not be neglected is the mass introduction of foreign words, notably Latin and French, which render the language formal and solemn. English proper is the mixture of many civilizations. Anglo—Saxon Conquest, Norman Conquest, Roman Invasion have great influenced the politic, economy and culture of England especially the language system.It is universally acknowledged that the common law system was formed in the Norman Co nquest period. ―There was English law before the Norman Conquest but there was no distinct profession, no centralization of justice‖ (Mellinkoff 1963:46) The author will elaborate the use of Latin and French in legislative documents respectively.2.1 Latin Words and Latinized EnglishThe history of Latin words permeated into English can be retrospect to 597AD, when Christianity was brought into England and the Roman culture along with it. From then on, Latin began to prevail in England firstly by the priests.Another big event that influenced the spread of Latin is the Renaissance Movement. This movement unfolds a vigorous mass campaign for learning Latin and Roman culture. This monopolistic language in the 13th and 14th century was regarded as the ―noble language‖. It was exclusively used by the upper class for that, historically, England has been a country using different languages to distinguish levels of social class. Latin even became a tool for the dominant class to rein the whole country. Law composer s used it as the ―common language‖ to formulate laws and regulations. In western civilizations, legal idioms and proverbs of Latin elements prevailed for a time. For example:Rest my case, verse versa.Jus est ars boni et aequi (Law is the art of kind and justice).Salus populi suprema lex (T e benefits of people is the supreme law).Latin borrowings gained the unprecedented position in legislative language. Some Latin words has intermingled with English and if not further study their roots, you can hardly find their Latin features such as: declaration, register, convict, jury, omission, litigant, felony, offence, injury, compensate, negotiate, affirm, deprive, etc. While some still maintain the Latin appearance. The following examples are given by the author:Latin is also characterized by concise, popular, and precise in expression, such as: ―Nullm crimen ma jus est inobedientia‖ means ―No crime is greater thandisobedience.‖―Res inter alios acta alteri nocere no debet‖ means ―A transaction between two parties shouldn‘t operate to the disadvantage of the third party not in their debt.‖To conclude, Latinisms have the distinct advantage in articulating law composer‘s inte ntions with concise phrases for their conceptions defined no ambiguity and long history of practice. That‘s one of the main reasons why they are not replaced by plain English. Having a good command of Latin would greatly facilitate the study of legal English for that Latin has been an indispensable shaping factor in tradition.2.2 Old French wordsThe period of Henry Ⅱ(1154-1189) is deemed to be “one of the most critical periods in the history of common law”(Denis 1986:1) England initiates the formation of common law system. Edicts made by the king, customary law of German, decrees from Norman emperor constitute the resources of common law system.To a large extent, the evolution of case law relies on the record of judicial precedents and on the law reporting. The English case law reporting institution has went through the eras of Year Books (1727-1535), Private Reports (1535-1865), and present system of law reporting (1865 till now). In practical, law reporting institution lays the foundations of the establishment of ―Stare Decisis‖.Norman Conquest is the inception of the French entering into English language system. Since then, Britain had been controlled by France. Consequently, Norman-French became the official language used in religion, education, politic, and judicial fields. English people were keen on imitating the elegance French tone used by the upper class and spoke it in various formal occasions. Law, acting as the ruler‘s instrument to rein England, was naturally formulated in French.In the 14th century, French gained an undeniable position in legal sphere of England, and continue to be so to the end of the 15th century. Later, though this language was no longer the legislative language, large number of French origin words were reserved in the form of legal precedent.Similar to Latin, some French words lost their morphological features. For instance: insurance, attorney, plead, dependant, equitable, dossier, dispose, arrest, assault, contract, damages, heir, larceny, mortgage, reprieve, treason, trespass, etc. Some words are still looks as it did originally. The following are some examples given by David Mellinkoff in The Language of Law:The formalness inclined the legislative body to use French and passed down from centuries ago.In the18th century English parliament proposed that all the Latin and French be abandoned permanently in tort law. However, later it is virtually proved impossible on account that no concise English expressions can substitute for the Latin and French without changing the original meaning. Tiersma said, ―Once establi shed legal phrases in authoritative texts take on a life of their own; you meddle with them at your own risk‖(1999:8) Ultimately English law language was inherited as a special language system consists of 3 kinds of languages: English (Anglo-Saxon), Latin and French.Chapter Three TerminologyAccording to Feng Zhiwei‘s comprehension, terms generally reflect people‘s achievements in research, and are regarded as the crystal of expert‘s professional knowledge (1997:2). Although law technical terms are obscure and tough to understand for average people, it is essential for lawyers, judges, and other law staff to dealing with law suits, drafting new articles, and things alike. ―If a word or phrase is used exclusively by a particular trade or profession or if that profession uses it in a way that differs from its normal meaning and the form has a relatively well-defined sense, it should be considered a technical term‖ (Tiersma: 108).The most fundamental virtue of term is that ambiguity and misapprehension are effectively avoided. Terms guarantee the exactness and accuracy of law articles hence inclined the legislative body putting terms into use.Alcaraz and Porian (2002: 17) classified technical vocabulary into pure technical terms and semi-technical terms. Pure technical terms are exclusively applicable in professional fields, while semi-technical terms refer to everyday lexicon which has gained extra meaning in the legal variety.3.1 semi-technical termsHao xueliang (2006) demonstrates in her articl e, ―A great number of common words are employed in legal English, but with uncommon meanings, which is one of the important factors that help creating the gap between legal English and everyday speech‖. Prestigious English jurist Firth explained that each word would have diverse conceptions with the changing of language environment. Common words are deprived of the everyday meanings and adopted new ones of legislative importance. As an indication of the difference between the daily and legal notion a chart is given by the author below:On account of the above analysis, researchers should deliberate on the proper meaning rather than translating the terms literally.3.2 pure technical termsPure technical term is ―a technical word with a specific meaning‖ (Mellinkoff 1963: 16). This variety of term renders the legal English clear and precise. Chen Peixing (1995) of Guizhou Police Officer V ocational College conducted a survey, and found that merely 30% of the law English vocabulary is professional ones, of which 3/4 being legalized common words. As a consequence, very few genuine pure technical terms exit, while due to the requirement of accuracy, concise and formalness, they can not be substituted.3.2.1 Legal TermsPure technical terms can also be subdivided into borrowed terms and legal terms. Legal law terms refer to the English terms peculiarly falling into the legislative sphere. This type of terms are the standardized ones, with only one specific notion and highly precision. They exclusively belong to law realm and rarely found in others in that pure legal terms are created especially for legislative and judicial activities.Pure legal terms, though in small quantity, play a quite important identifying role in the realization of concision and precision of legal English. Typical ones are as follows:plaintiff: A person who brings a case against another in a court of law.defendant: Any person against whom a relief is claimed by a plaintiff, or a person against whom a criminal prosecution is broughtrecidivist: A person who continually returns to criminal behavior notwithstanding the imposition of punishment for crimes committed.bigamy: Entering into a second marriage while lawfully married to another personhomicide: A killing, lawful or unlawful, of a human being by another human being；unlawful killing with or without intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm.affray: An indictable offence at common law originally designed to provide protection against violent disturbance of the peace, whose necessary element is that persons are put in fear.parole: The release of a prisoner from custody after the completion of a minimum period of imprisonment determined by a court so that the prisoner may serve the rest of the sentence on conditional liberty.tort: A wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under contract) leading to liability.3.2.2 Borrowed TermsBorrowed terms refer to the specific terms in other technical fields as engineering, economic, medical, financial, etc. With the all-round rapid development of the whole world and the increasingly intensive international communication of many fields, unfortunately disputes are also in a growing tendency. Law, serving asthe sovereign power, extends to every part of the industry to settle the disputes.Followings are some examples given by the author for the reader‘s favor: acceptance (of economy): The signification by a drawee of assent to the order of a drawer, requiring the drawee to sign the bill and an expression that the drawe e‘s promise will be performed only by money payment.balance (of economy): A figure representing the difference between credits and debits in an account; the amount of money held in an account.alignment (of engineering): arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions.coverage (of insurance): the amount of protection given by the insurance.risk (of insurance): a possibility of harm or damage against which something is insured.maturity (of finance)The time at which a bill of exchange becomes due for payment.Borrowed terms in law are mainly encountered in specialized codes, which are enacted to specify the issues in these fields. For example UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration 1985 is for regulating international commercial arbitration.Chapter Four Paired WordsLaw refers to a set of rules enacted by the authorities or developed from the custom which is recognized by the community as binding to all members. From the very beginning, law has been recognized as the sovereignty to specify people‘s rights and obligations, hence extreme formalness and definition being the critical demands of legislative language. Spontaneously, a profusion of paired words exit in legal documents. Paired synonyms exit for the rigorousness, while paired antonyms for the representative of the right and obligation parties.4.1 paired synonymsSynonym means a word or expression that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another in the same language. One study found that binomial expressions (a technical linguistic term for two parallel words joined by a conjunction) were used five times as often in legal writing as in other prose styles. (Tiersma 1999:60) Paradoxically, one of the essential merits of legal texts is concise, thus why these lexical repetition or redundancy been adopted.On account of the unique historical background, the courthouse occupied a dominant position in the process of legislation. However, after the 13th century, the legislative power was held by the congress. To keep the privilege, the court use the power of legal interpretation to interpret the law clauses in the judicial process at will, broadening or narrowing the original legal intention. Consequently, the congress listed the synonym s, leaving no room for the court‘s distortion. Later with the development of legislative system, this tradition has been preserved. Here are some examples: Any such advantages as is mentioned in this ordinance are customary in any profession, trade, vocation or calling.The seller shall pay all the custom duties and tariffs for export of the equipment.Others like: power and authority; terms and conditions; alter and change; make and enter into; any and all; final and conclusive; when and as; by and between; saveand except; null and void; children and issue; last will and testament, etc. can frequently found in any law.The adoption of synonyms or nearly synonyms endows precise to the denotation leaving no chance for misunderstanding.4.2paired antonymsDetermined by the mission of specifying the rights and obligations, law norms possess large quantities of paired antonyms to represent the two opposite parties. Generally, one party‘s right is reflected as the counter party‘s duty.Examples are as followings: offerer and offeree; appellant and appellee; creditor and debtor; right and duty; principal and accessory; the breaching party and the nonbreaching party; the justice and the evil; the criminal and the victim; drawer and drawee; libeler and libellee; mortgagor and mortgagee; plegor and pledgee indorser and indorsee ; insurer and insured; accuser and accused; blackmailer and blackmailee; trustor and trustee; legator and legatee, etc.We can conclude from the above examples that in legal English mass synonyms are formed with suffixes as -er/or and –ee to refer the counter party. This regular pattern may favor the study of legal English.ConclusionThe characteristics, described above, generally have a significant effect on the study of legal English and subsequently on the comprehension, translation and reference of English common law. English lexicon differs to a great extent from demonic English in many aspects.The author analyzed the characteristics of legal English respectively with some typ ical cases for the readers‘ references. Determined by the specific function of legal English to signify the legislative intent, conservativeness, formality, accuracy, preciseness and authoritativeness are of essential. Antique expressions, foreign elements, technical terms and paired words succeed in rendering the unique features herein, nevertheless, at the same time bringing about obscurity.This paper is conductive to the learning of legal English and to the comprehension of foreign laws written in English, hence promoting international communication. Globalization is an undeniable tendency, which means people from different countries get more access to exchange the modern achievements with each other. English, as one of the official languages of the UN, is practically the international language applied by the world. Consequently, international regulations and laws of many countries (China included) have an English version.Legal English is rather complicate and hard to understand, the author hopes that this paper would be of beneficial to the learning, teaching, and translation of legal English. Due to the limitation of time, it is impossible for the author to reach the depth expected, but hoping to be helpful to further studies.BibliographyAdvanc ed Learner‘s English-Chinese Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 6th ed.Crystal, David & Davy, Derek.Investigating English Style University of British Columbia Press. New York: 1969.Crastal David, & Derek Davy. Investigating English Style.London Group Limited.London:1969.David Mellin, on legal language. Boston: 1970.Martin ，Elizabeth A. Oxford Dictionary of Law. New York: Oxford University Press.5th ed.Mellinkoff, David. The Language of the Law. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1963.—.On legal language, Boston: 1970.Tiersma , PeterM. Linguistic Aspects of Legislative Expression.University of British Columbia Press. Vancouver: 1989.冯志伟，《现代术语学引论》。
