Legal Language - Couverture souple

Tiersma, Peter M.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0226803031 ISBN 13 : 9780226803036

Editeur : University of Chicago Press, 2000

Synopsis

Why is legal language so different from ordinary English? Statutes, judicial opinions, contracts, deeds and wills profoundly affect our daily lives, but their language tends to be convoluted, antiquated and often nearly impossible for the public to understand. So where did the "lessees" and "tortfeasors" come from and are they necessarily here to stay? This history of legal language slices through the polysyllabic thicket of legalese. It shows to what extent legalese is simply a product of its past, when Anglo-Saxon mercenaries, Latin-speaking missionaries, Scandinavian raiders and Norman invaders all left their marks on the language that lawyers use today. Peter Tiersma suggests, however, that history alone provides an inadequate explanation for the peculiarities of legal language. He considers how lawyers cling to their foreign-sounding language because it convinces laypeople that the legal system is far too complex to navigate without professional assistance. Obscurity, Tiersma suggests, can also be strategic (as when an insurance company prints oppressive legal terms in small type on the back of a policy), as can clarity (if lawyers need to persuade a jury of their client's innocence, they speak and write with newfound ease). All these issues are wrapped up in the legal language that continues to evolve and shape our culture. This text demonstrates that arcane vocabulary is not an inevitable feature of our legal system and Tiersma concludes with a call for simplification. It brings the verbiage of leases, employment agreements and other consumer documents out of the shadows.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Statutes, judicial opinions, contracts, deeds, and wills profoundly affect our daily lives, but their language tends to be often nearly impossible to understand. In this lively history of legal language, Peter Tiersma slices through the thicket of legalese, explaining where it comes from, why lawyers continue to cling to it, and why it's doesn't have to be an inevitable feature of our legal system. "Legal Language will resonate with lawyers . . . and any non-lawyer who has waded through legal documents, or has tuned in to the latest trial on Court TV" Carmie D. Boccuzzi, Jr, Boston Book Review "[A] masterful, highly readable, and enjoyable book. . . . Legal Language is truly a fun book to read" David Schultz, Law and Politics Book Review

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date d'édition: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0226803031
• ISBN 13: 9780226803036
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 328