Language of Law
India Legal|December 7, 2020
Our legislation, legal pleadings, documents, agreements, sale deeds, insurance contracts are lengthy, ridden with jargon and confusing. We in India must join the plain language movement
Justice Kamaljit Singh Garewal (Retd)
Language of Law

FROM the white cliffs of Do ver, the gleaming lights of Calais are only twenty miles. Yet United Kingdom and France have followed widely different pathways of justice. Here we are not going to discuss the common law/civil law conundrum but the language of law.

It all began at Hastings in 1066, when Normans from France defeated England. William, the Conqueror, claimed the throne as King of England, to be crowned William I of England. And France well and truly began to colonise England. King William’s first task was to administer justice to the Anglo-Saxons. William’s followers became the new Norman ruling class and imposed their language, Old French, on the upper echelons of society. Anglo-Saxon dialects were supplanted by Normans in the royal court, aristocratic circles, the justice system, and the Church. Influential Norman settlers used their native language in daily life, but more modest rural and urban areas of society continued to speak varieties of English. Roman law written in Latin was imported, Old French became the language of the courts, while the populace was Anglo-Saxon. So judgments based on law in Latin, were written in Old French for people who understood only auld English. This made every pleading, document and judgment three times longer than necessary. French was a Roman language, similar to Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, with no connection with Sanskrit. English was related to West Germanic tongues like Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic which are closely related to Sanskrit.

Bu hikaye India Legal dergisinin December 7, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye India Legal dergisinin December 7, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

INDIA LEGAL DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
PIL, Difficult To Swallow?
India Legal

PIL, Difficult To Swallow?

In a recent ruling, the Bombay High Court lamented the increasing number of frivolous public interest litigations being filed in courts and echoed the sentiments of the Supreme Court that such litigations are the bane of the judicial system. Is there any way to restrict their misuse?

time-read
6 dak  |
February 13, 2023
Till Infertility Do Us Part...
India Legal

Till Infertility Do Us Part...

The Calcutta High Court slammed a husband for initiating divorce proceedings due to his wife's infertility and asked him to be a pillar of support for her. Courts have often taken an empathetic view in such matters

time-read
4 dak  |
February 13, 2023
IS THAT LEGAL?
India Legal

IS THAT LEGAL?

Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked queries regarding matters that affect us on a day-to-day basis

time-read
3 dak  |
February 13, 2023
The Big Lie
India Legal

The Big Lie

In America, The Big Lie is an idiom used by Donald Trump's opponents and the media to describe his constant gripe about election fraud. Now, it seems more suited to another Republican, Congressman George Santos (right), who has been facing growing calls to resign after he admitted fabricating parts of his resume and biography since his election in New York last year.

time-read
1 min  |
February 13, 2023
Flying into the Sunset
India Legal

Flying into the Sunset

Over 50 years since the first and original jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, took to the skies and revolutionized air travel, the last of the legendary aircraft (right) was delivered to a freight charter company, bringing down the curtain on one of aviation's most successful products.

time-read
1 min  |
February 13, 2023
Star Crossed
India Legal

Star Crossed

Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is a Hollywood legend, having starred in a range of movies, award winning TV sitcoms, and theatre. He was most recently seen in Mission Impossible Fallout, which is an apt description of his current situation.

time-read
1 min  |
February 13, 2023
Walkouts in the UK
India Legal

Walkouts in the UK

An estimated half a million workers have gone on strike, shutting down thousands of schools, public transport and border disruption. It is the biggest day of industrial action for more than a decade.

time-read
1 min  |
February 13, 2023
Myanmar's Misery
India Legal

Myanmar's Misery

Two years after the military coup ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the brutal crackdown by the junta on so-called \"insurgents\" and civilian protesters has reached a new level with the use of air strikes, a new and deadly tactic in the ongoing civil war.

time-read
1 min  |
February 13, 2023
AMERICA'S ANGST
India Legal

AMERICA'S ANGST

From messy, divisive politics to a series of mass shootings, and now black officers brutally beating another black man to death as seen in bodycam videos, America's domestic convulsions are cause for serious introspection

time-read
4 dak  |
February 13, 2023
JUSTICE LEAGUE
India Legal

JUSTICE LEAGUE

There are few judicial appointment procedures in the world that are completely bereft of the overarching presence of either the executive or the legislature, or both. In the end, the judge is left with all the powers vested in him/her by the constitution to uphold the rule of law, within an atmosphere of external influences

time-read
9 dak  |
February 13, 2023