Lexis and Semantics in Occupation: Legalese

Question 1

Which occupation is Legalese used in?

Answer 1

Lawyer Jobs

Question 2

What year was the Norman invasion of England?

Answer 2

1066

Question 3

Which language became the standard form when the Normans invaded England?

Answer 3

Anglo-Norman French

Question 4

What did the Statute of Pleading State?

Answer 4

All legal proceedings should be in English, but recorded in Latin

Question 5

What year was the Statute of Pleading created?

Answer 5

1356

Question 6

What was a limitation with the Statute of Pleading in France specifically?

Answer 6

It was not officially implemented until 1485

Question 7

List 2 words which came from Anglo-Norman French (1 word related to a piece of land (beginning with “P) and one to living on a piece of land)

Answer 7

Property, Tenant

Question 8

List 2 legal words derived from Latin

Answer 8

Ad hoc, Bona fide

Question 9

What is it called when two words come together in a term but are from two different languages?

Answer 9

Mixed language doublets

Question 10

Give an example of a mixed language doublet

Answer 10

Breaking and Entering

Question 11

What is the term related to legal documents which describes them being very wordy?

Answer 11

Verbosity

Question 12

What may happen to nouns in legal documents? Give an example of this

Answer 12

Nouns can turn in to verbs such as someone losing their job can turn in to “job-losses”

Question 13

Do legal documents usually use an active or passive voice?

Answer 13

Passive voice

Question 14

Give an example of a passive voice sentence

Answer 14

“They found him in the well”

Question 15

What is a passive voice sentence?

Answer 15

A sentence which does not specifically identify any individuals or locations of places

Question 16

What would be an example of an active voice sentence?

Answer 16

“The Police found him in the Black Well”

Question 17

What are archaic words and are they likely to appear in legal documents?

Answer 17

Archaic words are words no longer commonly used. They can appear in legal documents

Question 18

Give 2 examples of Archaic words

Answer 18

“Thereof”, “Whereof”

Question 19

What is the situation with punctuation in legal documents?

Answer 19

There is very little punctuation

Question 20

What is the belief among lawyers with punctuation use?

Answer 20

The meaning of legal documents only requires the words and their context

Question 21

What language may be used for some words in legal documents instead of english? Give an example

Answer 21

Latin phrases such as “Inter alia” for “among others”

Question 22

What does the Plain English Campaign argue?

Answer 22

Legal documents need to be able to be understood better by people who are not lawyers

Question 23

Why do the Plain English Campaign argue this?

Answer 23

Because they believe in a Democracy, everyone should be able to access the law

Question 24

What does Mellinkoff argue?

Answer 24

The law is a ‘profession of words”