Nature of Legal Language (Specimens)

t. Lengthy and Complex Sentences- "The requirements that affidavits in onnosition to summary
judgment motions must recite that the material facts relied upon are true is no mere formality"
"You must never speculate to be true any insinuation suggested by a
question asked a witness."
2.

S uperfl uitY',If the rent hereby resemed or any part thereof shall be in arrear and unpaidfor twenty-one
be
days afier becoming due and payabte (whether formally demanded or not) or if there shall
any breach ofany coyenants or agreements on the part ofthe Lessee herein contained then
and in any such case it shall be lawfulfor the Lessor at an! time thereafter to re-enter upon
the demised premises or any part thereof in the name of the whole and immediately

Wordinessand

thereupon this demise shall absolutely cease and determine but without preiudice to any
righl of action or remedy of the Lessor in respect of a'ny antecedent breach of any covenant
or agreemenl on the part of the Lessee herein contained,"Deleting the words in bold reduces
the word count while the meaning held out by the draft remains intact.

,,If the rent shall be is unpaid

for twenty-one 2I days late (whether even if not formally
on
demanded or not) or if there shall be any breach of the tenant breal<s any other covenants
the premises,
the part of the Lessee it shall be la,wful for the Lessor lcndlord may to re-enter
to any
ending and immediately thereupon this demise shall cease lease, but without prejuCice
ofcovenant""
breach
remedy ofthe Lessor landlord inrespect offor any antecedent earlier
3.

Conjoined Phrases-

"I

give, devise and bequeath the rest, resitiue and remcinder..."

or "null

and void"4.

(Jnusual Sentence Syucture- The following is Rule 5 of Federal rules

(U.S.) titled "serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers"

of civil

procedure

Semice: ll/hen Required- Except as otherwise provided in these rules, every order required
by its terms to be semed, every pleading subsequent to the original complaint unless the court
required
otherwise orders because of numerous defendants, every paper relating lo discovery
than
other
motion
written
to be served upon a party unless the court otherwise orders, every
ofer of
one which mo-y be heard ex parte, and every written notice, appearance, demand,
judgment, designation of record on appeal, and similar paper shall be served ttpon each of
except that
the parties. No service need be made on parties in defautt for failure to appear
pleadings asserting new or additional claims for relief against them shall be semed upon
them in the manner providedfor service of summons in Rule 4'
innocent
Use of multiple negatives- 'oFailure of recollection is a common experience and

mlsrecollection is not rycommon"

that

it is the kind of accident which ordinarily

someone's negligence
6.

Impersonal Constructions

7.

Avoiding Pronouns

does not occur in the absence

of

sentences in jury
found 35 passives in only 44
charow
and
charrow
voice
language
8. use of passive
overuses of passives in legal
2? lacked the agent. The
is,
tr,rr.
of
and
insructions,
jurisprudence
from American
focus. rnis exam"pre is
often results in inappropriate
there known by defendant
were false and were then and
representations
were
forms:.,The aforesaid
fact that he knew these
ue on oe ieftndant" and the
,i*ra
ioir,
the
heard
false,,.Here
be
to be
passive to
false, not upon

difficult
known uy trre J.irnount. Another
none must
thereon is intended by me and
this one:'No

repres;;;";,

and understood by

jurors is

*pi*rr

be Infened bY You"

9.

hereto, hereinafter, herebf

wheresoever, whomsoever,
whatsoever,
Legal Archaisms-

witnesseth

'imbibe' as an alternative of 'drink"

'inquire' rather than 'ask"
'peruse' instead of 'read',

'forthwith'

as a

once' and so on
or
substitution of 'right away' 'at

10. Jargon or argot! above-mentioned

I rhereafter

thereof

aforementioned

therewith

foregoing

whatsoever

henceforth
!

I
I

hereby

wherein

herewith

ll. Use of synonyms, antonyms'

whereat

i hereafter

whereof

homonyms

HomonYms

but a lawsuit
Action: not a physical movement

but a reason to sentence

somthing that annoys you'
merely
not
law,
penalty
Aggravation: In death
someone to death

despite the name' virtually

document, not an adjective, and
regar
of
type
a
to
Brief: A noun refening
never brief.

of proceecrings untir a rater date;

continuance: The posrponement
willnolcontinue,butwillstopandstartagainlater'

it
if a judge continues a hearing'

Party: Someone who is a part of lawsuit, which despite the name is usually not much fun.
event, it often refers to a single person or entity, not a group

In

any

Synonyms:
I
a
a

Rest, residue and remainder

Give, devise and bequeath
Aid and abet

Due and owing

Fullfaith and credit

Goods and chattels

a
a

Ordered, adjudged and decreed

Mind and memory

Nulland void

a
a

Possession, custody and control

Right, title and interest

Save and except

True and correct

Make, publish and declare
Last Will and Testament

Able and willing

Escape and evade

12. Use of Formal words- Oyez Ayez Oyez, ; I dc solemnly swear to speak the truth and the truth
god
, the whoie truth and nothing but the truih, so help me
13.

Legal Language as Sub language- Legal language has been called an argot, a dialect, a
register, a style, and even a separate language. In fact, it is best described I'r'ith the relatively
new term sublanguage. A subianguage has its ov"n specialized grammar, a limited subject
matter, contains a unique vocabulary which is not commonly used

t4. Specimen Citibank's old loan form- "In the event of default in the payment of this or any
other obligation or the performance or observance of any term or covenant contained
herein or in and note or any other contract or agreement evidencing or relating to any

obligation or any collateral on the borrower's part to be performed or observed;or the

undersigned borrower shall die; or any of the undersigned becomes insolvent or make
an assignment for the benefit of creditors; or a petition hall be filed by or against any of the

undersignedunderanyprovisionofthe bankruptcy act; or any money securities or the

hereafter on deposit with or in the possession or
property of ihe undersigned now or
under the control ofthe bank shall be attached or become subject to restraint proceedings
oranyorderor process of any court; or the bank shalldeem itself to be insecure, then and in
any such event, the bank shall have a right(at its option), without demand or notice of any
payable,
kind, to declare all or any part of the obligations to be immediately due anci
to a
available
remedies
and
and the bank shall have the right to exercise all the rights
"code")in effect in
secured party upon default under the uniform commercial code( the
by
new york at the time and such other rights and remedies as may otherwise be provided
law"