ENG314
English for Specific Purposes
Jill Northcott
LEGAL
ENGLISH
SULTAN KUDARAT
STATE UNIVERSITY
ACCESS CAMPUS
Define the variable
meaning of Legal English
(LE) and its subsets.
Jhea
Discussant
Discuss details on
common law origins and
Research of Legal English.
Objectives
Lesson
Learning Distinguish Plain language
References Objectives and legal language text in
legislative text and legal
At the end of this lesson, discourse.
Home
students are expected to:
Exit
What is LE
(Legal English)?
• The term Legal English (LE) has a variable
Jhea meaning, understood by some to refer to
Discussant
legalese and by others as a shortcut for Anglo -
American law.
• Hence ESP practitioners have often eschewed
the term in favour of English for Legal Purposes
Objectives (ELP).
• Other acronyms have been developed to
Lesson
account for different subsets and so we have
References EALP (English for Academic Legal Purposes),
EOLP (English for Occupational Legal Purposes)
Home and EGLP (English for General Legal Purposes).
Exit
Language and the Law
• A common theme in the language and law literature is
the lack of transparency and obscurity found in legal
discourse, with its frequent use of formal words,
Jhea
Discussant
deliberate use of expressions with flexible meanings,
attempts at extreme precision, and complex syntactic
constructions (e.g. Danet 1980 ; Maley 1987 ; Melinkoff
1963 ).
• Using a language not well-known to the general
Objectives
populace, with obscurities and ambiguities combined
Lesson with excessive use of ritualistic language, maintains the
image of the law as something inaccessible,
References
mysterious and frightening, enabling the state to
Home maintain its authority and lawyers to hold on to power.
Exit
Language and the Law
• Mattila shows how the development of the common law further
contributed to the process. A system originally developed to
ensure a common system of justice throughout the country
became increasingly conceptually complex. Subtle distinctions
Jhea
Discussant between cases required a complex terminology as each term
needed to be interpreted, narrowly resulting in verbose statutes
and contracts in contrast to civilian law.
• Williams (2005) gives a detailed account of verbal
constructions in legislative text, giving careful consideration to
Objectives Plain Language suggestions for change.
Lesson • Recent forensic linguistics research claims, go beyond the fact
that the difficulties in understanding the language of the law
References are one factor causing misunderstandings to show how the
Home
very nature of legal language can lead to social disadvantage
for vulnerable groups.
Exit
Translation
Studies
Jhea
Discussant • Within translation studies there is an ongoing debate about
the nature of legal translation. Some claim that legal
language is just one instance of specialized language and
can therefore be approached in the same way. Others claim
Objectives
that legal translation creates such unique problems that only
legally qualified translators are fully competent in this area.
Lesson
• There is, however, some interesting work in both legal
References translation and lexicography which is very valuable for the
Home
Legal English practitioner.
Exit
Translation
Studies
Jhea
Discussant • For a term or concept to be understood it is necessary to
have:
1. Definitions of a legal term;
2. A context showing how a legal term is interpreted;
Objectives 3. Sources of the relevant ordinances (statutes) and cases.
Lesson
• There are clear implications for the teaching of legal
vocabulary because a full understanding of common law
References terms requires an exploration of all of the steps outlined
Home
above.
Exit
Common Law as a
Source of Difficulty
• Common law - Is body of unwritten laws
Aishetea Grace based on legal precedents established by the
Discussant
court.
• Civil law - The part of country’s set of laws
which is concerned with the private affairs
citizens.
Objectives • Legal language - Is a system-bound which
Lesson
means that many legal terms denoting
concepts derive their meanings from a
References particular legal system and can only be
understood by reference to the specific legal
Home
system.
Exit
Common Law as a
Source of Difficulty
• All legal systems contain terms with no comparable
Aishetea Grace counterparts in another legal system, but the problem
Discussant
is particularly acute when it involves a common law
country.
• Binding law - Any agreement that's legally
enforceable.
• Studying the common law can make heavy demands
Objectives on students studying in a second language, because
of both the difficulties involved in comprehending
Lesson
legal texts and different assumptions about how to
interpret and apply the law.
References
• Acts of parliament - Also called as statute, creates a
Home new law or changes an existing law.
Exit
Common Law
Contracts
• Contracts are clearly a potential source of difficulty
Aishetea Grace for Legal English learners, because of the
Discussant
importance assigned to the meaning of words and
expressions by judges.
• Commercial contracts - A legally binding
document that puts one party into a binding
Objectives position either to do something or not to engage in
the stated activity.
Lesson
• The problem is compounded in the case of
References international commercial contracts because of the
use of English, the language of common law, as the
Home
international language.
Exit
• Early (pre - 1990s) Legal English teaching
strained even the most resourceful of ESP
practitioners. One solution to the dilemma
Research
was to draw on the resources of legal
specialists.
The next section focusses on
research areas central to ESP • Early ESP literature (Swales 1982; White 1981)
including research with broader
application than just the legal field.
gives accounts of ESP teachers who learnt
Vince Brave
Discussant from experience that analyzing and
understanding legal texts required a different
approach from that adopted with other types
of ESP.
• Blue (1993) endorsed very close cooperation
Objectives
with subject specialists when teaching English
Lesson
for academic legal purposes.
• Northcott and Brown (2006) document a
References
partnership between ESP teachers and legal
Home specialists in the provision of short training
courses for legislative translators.
Exit
• Early (pre - 1990s) Legal English teaching
strained even the most resourceful of ESP
practitioners. One solution to the dilemma
Research
was to draw on the resources of legal
specialists.
The next section focusses on
research areas central to ESP • Early ESP literature (Swales 1982; White 1981)
including research with broader
application than just the legal field.
gives accounts of ESP teachers who learnt
Vince Brave
Discussant from experience that analyzing and
understanding legal texts required a different
approach from that adopted with other types
of ESP.
• Blue (1993) endorsed very close cooperation
Objectives
with subject specialists when teaching English
Lesson
for academic legal purposes.
• Northcott and Brown (2006) document a
References
partnership between ESP teachers and legal
Home specialists in the provision of short training
courses for legislative translators.
Exit
• Early (pre - 1990s) Legal English teaching
strained even the most resourceful of ESP
practitioners. One solution to the dilemma
Research
was to draw on the resources of legal
specialists.
The next section focusses on
research areas central to ESP • Early ESP literature (Swales 1982; White 1981)
including research with broader
application than just the legal field.
gives accounts of ESP teachers who learnt
Vince Brave
Discussant from experience that analyzing and
understanding legal texts required a different
approach from that adopted with other types
of ESP.
• Blue (1993) endorsed very close cooperation
Objectives
with subject specialists when teaching English
Lesson
for academic legal purposes.
• Northcott and Brown (2006) document a
References
partnership between ESP teachers and legal
Home specialists in the provision of short training
courses for legislative translators.
Exit
• Abo Mosallem (1984) gives an account
of one such needs analysis for Egyptian
Research
police officers resulting in a course to
develop basic communicative ability.
The other options open to the non -
legally trained English teacher were to • Tadros (1989) provides us with an
conduct extensive needs analysis
or/and engage in discourse analysis.
interesting example of the second. Her
Vince Brave
Discussant research impetus is from pedagogic
need – a colleague needs help with a
text which is too difficult for his first -
year students at the University of
Khartoum.
Objectives
• Deutch (2003) gives an account of a
Lesson needs analysis of Israeli law students,
recognizing the need for priority setting
References
given the constraints imposed by non -
Home legally qualified Legal English teachers.
Exit
Research
Genre analysis has proved a useful
• Badger (2003) and Bowles (1995) ,
too. Bhatia (1997) framework for for example, both write about the
understanding the language of the
Vince Brave
law, distinguishing genres as use of genre -based materials
Discussant pedagogic, professional or academic,
has been very influential in Legal
based on newspaper law reports.
English teaching.
• Reinhart (2007) has produced
genre - based materials for US LLM
(Master of Laws) students
Objectives incorporating an analysis of the
structure of legal holdings.
Lesson
References
Home
Exit
• Feak, Reinhart, and Sinsheimer
(2000) attempt a genre analysis of law
Research
review notes.
Other researchers have identified
• Weber (2001) describes a task - based
similar features in legal text but course incorporating the use of
without clearly distinguishing between
Vince Brave
different genres and communicative concordances for legal essay writing.
purposes the work is of limited
• Fan and Xu (2002) report on an online
Discussant
relevance to ESP practitioners.
bilingual corpus in English and Chinese
to facilitate the self-study of Legal
English.
Objectives • Hafner and Candlin (2007) evaluate
Lesson
student use of a simple online
concordancing tool in completing
References legal writing tasks such as drafting
Home legal opinions of court pleadings.
Exit
Implications for Legal
English Research and
Vince Brave
Practice
Discussant
• From the perspective of the ESP • ESP methods involving a learner-centered
teacher, the difficulties in approach, which uses the knowledge of
understanding legal language the learners to develop their competence
present challenges. in using the language of the law in the
• Some practitioners have taken target contexts of use can provide a better
Objectives
the view that obtaining a legal solution.
qualification is the best solution. • Beveridge (2000) believes that Legal
Lesson
English teaching is the main solution for
• Legal English teaching
those confronted with the difficulties
References experience that attempts to
involved in using English as a legal lingua
involve legal specialists is
Home franca, then more research into the
enlightening.
interface is essential.
Exit
Reference
Feak , C. , Reinhart , S. , and Sinsheimer , A. teachers of English for legal purposes and
(2000 ) A preliminary analysis of law review legal specialists. English for Specific
Vince Brave notes . English for Specific Purposes 19 : 197 – Purposes 25 : 358 – 75 .
Discussant
220 . Paltridge, B. & Starfield S (Eds.). The Handbook
Northcott , J. ( 2006 ) Law and language or of English for Specific Purposes. Wiley-
language and law? The design and Blackwell. 2013. ResearchGate. Retrieved from
implementation of an English for the LL.M https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2
course. In D. Bartol , A. Duszak , H. Izdebski , 35736666_ Handbook_of_English_for_
and J. M. Pierrel (eds.), Langue, Droit, Soci é t Specific_Purposes
Objectives
é . Cahiers de DNPS. 435 – 45 . Nancy : White , G. ( 1981 ) The subject specialist and
Universit é de Nancy. the ESP teacher . Lexden Papers 2 : 9–14.
Lesson
Northcott , J. and Brown , G. D. ( 2006 ) Legal Oxford: Lexden Centre.
translator training: Partnership between
References
Home
Exit
