A (Mostly) Succinct History of English Legal Language

From the Norman invasion in 1066 A.D. until the 1700’s, the language spoken by lawyers and judges in English courts was French. Most treatises, including Sir Edward Coke’s famous Institutes of the Lawes of England, were written in French. As a result, as law history scholar Frederic Maitland put it: “How shall one write a single sentence about law without using some such [French] word such as ‘debt’, ‘contract’, ‘heir’, ‘trespass’, ‘pay’, ‘money’, ‘court’, ‘judge’, ‘jury’. In all the world-wide land where English law prevails, homage is done daily to William of Normandy and Henry of Anjou.” But curiously, the language of record was Latin, which is why ipso facto so many legal maxims are in Latin. Meanwhile, most of the litigants spoke English, and thus didn’t have a clue as to what was being said in court against them or on their behalf. A (Mostly) Succinct History of English Legal Language power point presentation explores the etymology of English legal language, and along the way we’ll also discuss the history of the English legal system, because word origins and origins of the system are closely entwined.