| Law French | |
|---|---|
| Lawe Frensch | |
| Region | British Isles |
| Era | Used inEnglish law fromc. 13th century until c. 18th century |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Law French (Middle English:Lawe Frensch) is an archaic language originally based onAnglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced byParisian French and, later, English. It was used in thelaw courts of England from the 13th century.[3] Its use continued for several centuries in the courts ofEngland and Wales andIreland. Although Law French as a narrative legal language is obsolete, many individual Law French terms continue to be used by lawyers and judges incommon law jurisdictions.
The earliest known documents in which 'French', i.e. Anglo-Norman, is used for discourse onEnglish law date from the third quarter of the thirteenth century, and include two particular documents. The first is the 1258Provisions of Oxford,[4] consisting of the terms of oaths sworn by the 24 magnates appointed to rectify abuses in the rule ofKing Henry III, together with summaries of their rulings. The second is theCasus Placitorum[5] (c. 1250 – c. 1270), a collection of legal maxims, rules and brief narratives of cases.
In these works the language is already sophisticated and technical, well equipped with its own legal terminology. This includes many words which are of Latin origin, but whose forms have been shortened or distorted in a way which suggests a long history of French usage. Some examples includeadvowson from the Latinadvocationem, meaning the legal right to nominate aparish priest;neif[e], from the Latinnātīvā, meaning a femaleserf, andessoyne oressone from the Latinsunnis, meaning a circumstance that exempts one from a royal summons. Lateressonia replacedsunnis in Latin, thus replacing the Latin from with the French one.
Until the early fourteenth century, Law French largely coincided with the French used as an everyday language by the upper classes. As such, it reflected some of the changes that northern dialects of mainland French had undergone. Hence, in the documents mentioned above, 'of the king' is rendered asdel rey, ordel roy, whereas by about 1330 it had becomedu roi, as in modern French, ordu roy.[6][7]
During the 14th century, vernacular French suffered a rapid decline. The use of Law French was criticized by those who argued that lawyers sought to restrict entry into the legal profession. ThePleading in English Act 1362 ("Statute of Pleading") acknowledged this change by ordaining that thenceforward all courtpleading must be in English, so "every Man ... may the better govern himself without offending of the Law".[8] From that time, Law French lost much of its status as a spoken language.
Law French remained in use for the 'readings' (lectures) and 'moots' (academic debates), held in theInns of Court as part of the education of young lawyers, but it rapidly became only a written language. It ceased to acquire new words and its grammar broke down. By about 1500, gender was often neglected, giving rise toune home ('a (feminine) man') orun feme ('a (masculine) woman'). More and more of its vocabulary becameEnglish, as it was only used by English, Welsh and Irish lawyers and judges who often spoke no real French.
In the seventeenth century, the moots and readings fell into neglect, and the rule ofOliver Cromwell, with its emphasis on removing the relics of archaic ritual from legal and governmental processes, struck a further blow to the language. Even before then, in 1628,Sir Edward Coke acknowledged in his preface to theFirst Part of the Institutes of the Law of England, that Law French had almost ceased to be a spoken tongue. It was still used for case reports and legal textbooks until almost the end of 1600s, but only in an anglicized form. A frequently quoted example of this change comes from one ofChief Justice SirGeorge Treby's marginal notes in an annotated edition ofDyer's Reports, published 1688:
Richardson Chief Justice de Common Banc al assises de Salisbury in Summer 1631 fuit assault per prisoner la condemne pur felony, que puis son condemnation ject un brickbat a le dit justice, que narrowly mist, et pur ceo immediately fuit indictment drawn per Noy envers le prisoner et son dexter manus ampute et fix al gibbet, sur que luy mesme immediatement hange in presence de Court.
"Richardson,Chief Justice of theCommon Bench at theAssizes atSalisbury in Summer 1631 wasassaulted by a prisoner there condemned forfelony, who, following his condemnation, threw a brickbat at the said justice that narrowly missed, and for this, anindictment was immediately drawn byNoy against the prisoner and his right hand was cut off and fastened to thegibbet, on which he himself was immediately hanged in the presence of the Court."[9][note 1]
TheProceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 made English, instead of Law French andLatin, the obligatory language for use in the courts of England and in thecourt of exchequer in Scotland. It was later extended to Wales, and seven years later a similar act was passed in Ireland, theAdministration of Justice (Language) Act (Ireland) 1737.[10]
Thepostpositive adjectives in many legalnoun phrases in English—attorney general,fee simple—are a heritage from Law French. Native speakers of French may not understand certain Law French terms not used inmodern French or replaced by other terms. For example, the current French word for "mortgage" ishypothèque. Many of the terms of Law French were converted into modern English in the 20th century to make the law more understandable in common-law jurisdictions. Some key Law French terms remain, including the following:
| Term or phrase | Literal translation | Definition and use |
|---|---|---|
| assizes | sittings (Old Frenchassise, sitting) | Sitting of the court held in different places throughout a province or region.[11] |
| attorney | appointed (Old Frenchatorné) | attorney-at-law (lawyer, equivalent to asolicitor andbarrister) or attorney-in-fact (one who haspower of attorney). |
| autrefois acquit orautrefois convict | peremptory pleas that one was previously acquitted or convicted of the same offence. | |
| bailiff | Anglo-Normanbaillis, baillif "steward; administrator", frombail "custody, charge, office" |
|
| charterparty | Originallycharte partie (split paper) | Contract between an owner and a hirer (charterer) over a ship. |
| cestui que trust,cestui que use | shortened form ofcestui a que use le feoffment fuit fait, "the one for whose use thefeoffment was made", andcestui a que use le trust est créé, "the one for whom the trust is created" | sometimes shortened tocestui; the beneficiary of atrust. |
| chattel | property, goods (Old Frenchchatel, ultimately from Latincapitale) | personal property |
| chose | thing (from Latincausa, "cause") | thing, usually as in phrases: "chose in action" and "chose in possession". |
| culprit | Originallycul. prit, abbreviation ofCulpable: prest (d'averrer nostre bille), meaning "guilty, ready (to prove our case)", words used by prosecutor in opening a trial. | guilty party |
| cy-près doctrine | "so near/close" and can be translated as "as near as possible" or "as near as may be" | the power of a court to transfer the property of one charitable trust to another charitable trust when the first trust may no longer exist or be able to operate. |
| defendant | "defending" (Frenchdéfendant) | the party against whom a criminal proceeding is brought. |
| demise | "to send away", fromdémettre | Transfer, usually ofreal property, but alsoof the Crown on the monarch's death or abdication, whence the modern colloquial meaning "end, downfall, death". |
| de son tort | "by their wrong", i.e. as a result of their own wrong act | acting and liable but without authorization; e.g. executorde son tort, trusteede son tort, agentde son tort, guardiande son tort. |
| en ventre sa mere | "in its mother's womb" | foetus in utero or in vitro but for beneficial purposes legally born. |
| escheats | Anglo-Normaneschete,escheoite "reversion of property" (gave the legal French verbéchoir) |
|
| escrow | Anglo-Normanescrowe, from Old Frenchescro(u)e "scrap of paper, scroll of parchment" | a contractual arrangement in which a third party receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacting parties |
| estoppel | Anglo-Normanestoup(p)ail "plug, stopper, bung" | prevention of a party from contradicting a position previously taken. |
| estovers | "that which is necessary" | wood that tenants may be entitled to from the land in which they have their interest. |
| feme covert vs.feme sole | "covered woman" vs. "single woman" | the legal status of adult married women and unmarried women, respectively, under thecoverture principle of common law. |
| force majeure | modern French, "superior force" | clause in some contracts that frees parties from liability foracts of God. |
| grand jury | "largejury" (q.v.) | a legal body empowered to conduct official proceedings and investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. |
| in pais | "in the countryside" | out of court, extrajudicial: (1) settlement in pais: voluntary amicable settlement reached without legal proceedings; (2) matter in pais: matter to be proved solely by witness testimony unsupported by any judicial record or other documentary or tangible evidence; (3) estoppel in pais: estoppel in respect of out-of-court statements; (4) trial per pais: trial by jury. |
| jury | Anglo-Normanjurée "oath, legal inquiry" | a group of citizens sworn for a common purpose. |
| laches | Anglo-Normanlachesse "slackness, laxness" | Under English common law, the unnecessary delaying bringing an action against a party for failure to perform is known as the doctrine of laches. The doctrine holds that a court may refuse to hear a case not brought before it after a lengthy period since the right of action arose.[11] |
| larceny | Anglo-Normanlar(e)cin "theft" | theft of personal property. |
| mainprise, mainprize | undertaking for the appearance of an accused at trial, given to a magistrate or court even without having the accused in custody;mainpernor is the promisor. | |
| market overt | "open market" | a designated market in which sales of stolen goods tobona fide purchasers are deemed to pass good title to the goods. |
| mortgage | "dead pledge" (Old Frenchmort gaige) | now a variety of security interests, either made by conveyance or hypothecation, but originally a pledge by which the landowner remained in possession of the property that the landowner staked as security. |
| mortmain | mort + main meaning "dead hand" | perpetual, inalienable ownership of land by the "dead hand" of an organization, usually the church. |
| oyer et terminer | "to hear and determine" | US: court of general criminal jurisdiction in some states; UK: commission or writ empowering a judge to hear and rule on a criminal case at the assizes. |
| parol evidence rule | a substantive rule of contract law which precludes extrinsic evidence from altering the terms of an unambiguous fully expressed contract; from the Old French for "voice" or "spoken word", i.e., oral, evidence. | |
| parole | word, speech (ultimately from Latinparabola, parable) | the release of prisoners based on giving their word of honour to abide by certain restrictions. |
| peine forte et dure | strong and harsh punishment | torture, in particular to force a defendant to enter a plea. |
| per my et per tout | by half and by the whole | describes ajoint tenancy: by the half for purposes of survivorship, by the whole for purposes ofalienation. |
| petit jury | "smalljury" | a trial jury, now usually just referred to as a jury. |
| plaintiff | complaining (from Old Frenchplaintif) | the person who begins a lawsuit. |
| prochein ami | close friend | Law French for what is now more usually callednext friend (or, in England and Wales, following theWoolf Reforms, a litigation friend). Refers to one who files a lawsuit on behalf of another not capable of acting on their own behalf, such as aminor. |
| profit a prendre | also known as theright of common, where one has the right to take the "fruits" of the property of another, such as mining rights, growing rights, etc. | |
| prout de jure | Scots law term; proof at large; all evidence is allowed in court. | |
| pur autre vie vs.cestui que vie | "during the term of another person's life" vs. "during the term of one's life" |
|
| recovery | originally a procedural device for clarifying the ownership of land, involving a stylised lawsuit between fictional litigants. | |
| remainder | originally a substitution-term in awill orconveyance, to be brought into play if the primary beneficiary were to die or fail to fulfil certain conditions. | |
| replevin | from plevir ("to pledge"), which in turn is from the Latin replegio ("redeem a thing taken by another"). | a suit to recover personal property unlawfully taken. |
| semble | "it seems" or "it seems or appears to be" | The legal expression "semble" indicates that the point to which it refers is uncertain or represents only the judge's opinion. In alaw report, the expression precedes a proposition of law which is anobiter dictum by the judge, or a suggestion by the reporter. |
| terre-tenant | person who has the actual possession of land; used specifically for (1) someone owing arentcharge, (2) owner in fee of land acquired from ajudgment debtor after judgment creditor's lien has attached. | |
| torts | from medieval Latintortum "wrong, injustice", neuter past participle of Latintorquo, "I twist" | civil wrongs. |
| treasure trove | fromtresor trouvé "found treasure" | treasure found by chance, as opposed to one stolen, inherited, bought, etc.Trove is properly an adjective, but colloquially now used as a noun, meaning a collection of treasure, whether it is legally treasure trove or not. In the UK (except Scotland), the legal term is now simplytreasure. |
| voir dire | literally "to say the truth";[14][15] the wordvoir (orvoire) in this combination comes from Old French and derives from Latinverum, "that which is true". It is not related to the modern French wordvoir, which derives from Latinvideo ("I see"); but instead to the adverbvoire ("even", from Latinvera, "true things") as well as the adjectivevrai ("true") as in the fossilised expressionà vrai dire ("to say the truth"). | in theUnited States, the questions a prospective juror or witness must answer to determine their qualification to serve; or, in the law of both England & Wales and the United States a "trial-within-a-trial" held to determine the admissibility of evidence (for example, an accused's alleged confession),[16] i.e. whether the jury (or judge where there is no jury) may receive it. |
Five rectangles of red linen, formerly used as curtains for the miniatures.ff. 3–6: Eight miniatures of the kings of England from Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066) to Edward I (r. 1272–1307); each one except the last is accompanied by a short account of their reign in Anglo-Norman prose. 'del Roy Phylippe de Fraunce'
