Icheke Journal of the Faculty of Humanities Vol.18. No.1 March, 2020 www.ichekejournal.

com

Lexical and Syntactic Features of Legal English: Implications for Use of

English Teaching in Nigeria
By

Scholastica C. Amadi
Department of English and Communication Art
Ignatius Ajuru University of Education,
Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Phone: 08038790756

Abstract
The global status of English implies that its users must understand every
discourse spoken or written in English. To achieve this, users have to be
familiar with the peculiarities of the different genres, be they features from
newspapers, medical reports or legal contracts or textbooks. This paper
discusses the lexical and syntactic features of legal English and its
implications. Legal English is the global legal language. It is important that
law students, translators and the lay persons for whom the law is
evidently formulated, interpreted and enforced should have knowledge
of the features. Data collected from randomly selected written and spoken
legal texts explicate the specialized lexical and syntactic features of legal
English. These features which fashion its style, making it distinct from
ordinary English, result from the legal practitioners’ desire to achieve
precision and accuracy, and to avoid ambiguity. Legal English is wordy
and verbose as it uses synonymous or antonymous doublets, triplets,
archaic words from Latin, lacks of punctuation and comprises lengthy and
complex sentence structure. Despite the advocacy by the Plain English
Movement for simplifying legal English, the existence of these features
makes legal English quite distinct from any other discourse- specific
variety of English. Given the performative and normative functions of
legal documents with their intended effects which could be detrimental if
misinterpreted or misunderstood this paper therefore concludes that the
teaching of legal English should be introduced as an essential aspect of the
Use of English programme in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

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Keywords: Legal English, Lexical Features, Syntactic Features, Legal

Language Plain English.

Introduction
Legal language is that language used in formal legal discourse by legal
practitioners; it can be written or spoken. In all societies, laws, legal codes,
statutes, contracts, judicial decisions (court judgments and rulings), wills
and testaments, legal textbooks and law reports are primarily written,
realized and documented through language and the language of our
concern is English. The end users of these different legal texts are not only
legal practitioners, but also include lay persons.

English is the global legal language, used not only within the European
Union, United States of America, United Kingdom, United Nations, but
also within African Union and other non-native English speaking countries
like Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and India among others. English
therefore plays a significant function as the language of legal activities. The
term legal English (henceforth LE), has varied meanings. While some refer
to it as legalese, others see it as a short-cut for Anglo-American law
(Northcott, 2013). But in literature, the dominant meaning is legalese. The
Anglo-American law otherwise known as common law refers to the legal
systems of England, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand which are
derived from the English common law system(Susanto, 2016). The
language of law used within these cultures contains a host of Old English,
Latin, Norman French and Middle English terms. Particularly, in
vocabulary, LE has fixed terms that have formed a specialized technical
lexicon of law. Legal English, from this perspective is a highly specialized
and distinctive discourse type or genre of English. Hence, there is a wide
gap between it and the language of ordinary discourse.

As legalese, LE refers to a traditional style of legal writing that is part of the

specialized discourse of lawyers’ communication that “lay readers cannot

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easily comprehend”(Enquist, Oates, & Francis, 2017, p.127). It describes

“legal writing which may be cluttered, wordy, indirect and may include
unnecessary technical word and phrases” (Bain Butler, 2013, p.32).
Historically, legalese is the language a lawyer uses in drafting a contract or
pleading a case but would not use in ordinary conversation(Enquist, Oates
& Francis, 2017). For this reason, the traditional style of legal writing
(legalese) has been labeled reader-unfriendly (Bain Butler, 2013). In other
words, LE as legalese refers to those specialized technical vocabulary and
expressions that characterize legal writings and documents which are
difficult for the lay people to comprehend.

However, Northcott (2013) observes that English for Specific Purposes

practitioners have eschewed the term, legal English, in favour of English
for Legal Purposes (ELP) and developed other terms and acronyms to
account for different subsets of the legal English. Thus, there are English for
Academic Legal Purposes (EALP), English for Occupational Legal Purposes
(EOLP) and English for General Legal Purposes (EGLP). This means that
LE can be studied and discussed from three perspectives, academic,
occupational and general- although there is no common agreement on the
demarcation points (Northcott, 2013).Northcott (2009) cited in Northcott
(2013) equates LE to the English language education that enables non-
native English law professionals from English as a second or foreign
language contexts to operate in academic and professional contexts
requiring the use of English. LE therefore is the style or variety of English
used by lawyers and other law professionals, whether in academic,
professional or occupational contexts in the course of their work.

LE can be written or spoken. But the most commonly studied is the written
legal language (Northcott, 2013). The written LE include academic legal
writings as in law journals, law reports, prescriptive legal textbooks,
judicial writings as in court judgments and rulings, writs of summons,
legislative legal writings such as constitutions, statutes, regulations, and

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contracts, wills, insurance policies, treatise (Bhatia, 2014). The variety of the
written language of law used by lawyers to communicate with clients
require a more “reader-friendly” style of written communication than that
used with law professional (Goddard, 2010). The spoken LE refers to the
language of courtroom discourse used by judges, counsels (lawyers) (for
examination and cross examination of witness), court officials, witnesses
and any other participants in court trials.

Whether written or spoken, legal language contains a number of unusual

features which are evident in terminology, and linguistic structures.
According to Bain Butler(2013) whatever the form of legal language, legal
skills and language skills form vital part of higher legal education and
professional training. This means that LE is a sublanguage, a formalized
language that differs from the ordinary everyday English in vocabulary,
morphology, syntax and semantics (Wydick & Sloan, 2005). The specialized
use of certain terms and linguistic patterns that characterize LE is aimed at
achieving consistency, validity, completeness and soundness.

Peculiarities of Legal English and Its Implications

According to Northcott(2013) the common features of LE are lack of
transparency, obscurity, frequent use of formal words, deliberate use of
expressions with flexible meanings, attempts at extreme precision and
complex syntactic structures. The existence of these features in LE is
attributed to both the historical development of the English language and
the desire for power by lawyers.

Developments in the history of English account partly for the features of

legal English. The Anglo-Saxon, French and Roman (Latin) conquest of
England left their marks on modern LE. For instance, The Anglo-Norman
French is the root of the long, complex sentences used in legal writing and
Anglo-Saxon is the source of the alliterative phrases, such as “to have and
to hold”, “rest, residue and remainder”, “null and void”, etc. Medieval

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Latin is the source of archaic legal expressions such as “witnesseth, folk,

ultra vires, a fortiori” among others.

LE comprises a mixture of the lexis and syntax of Latin, French and

English. To avoid ambiguity, words from these different languages are
often used in pairs, e.g., “lands and tenements” (English and French), “wills
and testaments” (English and Latin). Sometimes, there may be little
ambiguity to resolve and the pairs merely give greater emphasis; this has
become a stylistic habit of legal English. This feature results in the
collocation of synonyms and near synonyms as a notable feature of legal
English. However, the combining of Latin, French and English in current
legal English is not only for purposes of avoiding ambiguity, lawyers often
manipulate it for purposes of persuasion and it as well smacks of legal
pomposity (Crystal, 1997). Hence Mattila (2006, p.10) cited in
Northcott(2013, p. 215) avers that “the legal language, especially legal
terminology… is almost a language museum”.

Most descriptions of the features of legal English are based on the written
form. Study of the spoken form is a recent development. In this paper the
lexical and syntactic features are instantiated with data drawn from written
and spoken legal English. The data used in this paper are purposely
selected from contractual documents, textbooks, wills, court rulings and the
transcription of a tape-recorded courtroom trial of a case of burglary. For
ethical reasons the sources of some of the verbatim quotes that are used in
the paper cannot be revealed.

Lexical Features
The vocabulary of LE comprises archaic words, technical terms, doublets,
triplets, phrasal verbs, names and words ending in ‘-er’, ‘-or’, and ‘ee’ and
also foreign words.

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A common lexical feature of LE is obscurity. This is because LE comprises

archaic words and expressions from Old and Middle English that have
become obscure in ordinary everyday Modern English usage. Examples
include adverbs such as: hereof, thereof, hereinafter, hereunder, and
heretofore; nouns: corporate veil, surrejoinder, appurtenances; adjective:
aforesaid; verb: darraign, bequest, abutting. Other examples include the
phrases: pursuant to (instead of under, in accordance with), prior to
(meaning before), vel non (or not, or the lack of it).

Although the use of these words is primarily to avoid repeating names or

phrases and also to maintain the formal style of legal writing, there are
suggestions for replacing these archaic words and phrases with more
familiar Modern English forms(Veretina-Chirac, 2012; Imhanobe, 2002). For
instance, the adverb hereinafter can be replaced by below and the verb
abutting by next to.

Technical terms known as “terms of art”, feature as pure legal terms in the
lexicon of legal English; some of which are unfamiliar to the layman. Much
of these are foreign words derived from French and Latin. Examples of the
unfamiliar ones include: tort, promissory, restrictive covenant, estoppels,
abatement, bailment, libee, etc. The familiar ones include, patent, share
royalty, bail, appeal, libel, injunction, defendant, felony among others.

Apart from the pure legal terms, there are also ordinary common words
used with special meanings in LE. For instance, the polysemous words,
attachment, action, consideration, execute, hand, said, party etc have
specific meanings within LE. For example, in LE, the word, consideration,
refers to contract and means “an act, forbearance or promise by one party
to a contract that constitutes the price for which the promise of the other
party is bought” (Oxford Dictionary of Law). Other examples are prefer,
redemption, furnish, construction, hold, find, tender, among others. Thus,

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a special attention must be paid when these words are used in legal domain
because their legal meanings differ from their general (ordinary) meanings.

The vocabulary of spoken LE also contains argot. That is, less precise terms
and idioms used in daily legal discourse (Crystal, 1997; Veretina, 2012).
Examples of this are alleged, issue of law, objection, order to show cause,
strike (out) from the record, cause list, objection over-ruled/sustained etc.
Lawyers also use clipped words such as depo (deposition), hypo
(hypothetical example), punies (punitive damages), in pro per (in propria
persona), rogs (interrogations/ interrogatories). These clipped words are
informal words unlike the word pro tem (pro tempore) which can be found
in formal legal language.

The lexicon of LE also comprises doublets and triplets. The mixture of the
languages, French, Latin and English, used in early legalese led to the
tendency in legal English to string together two or three synonymous, near
synonymous or converse words to convey a single legal concept. The
stringing of two words results in words known as doublets while that of
three words yields the triplets. Hence, another prominent lexical feature of
LE is the use and collocation of synonyms, near-synonyms and converse
words in legal discourse. Examples of doublets: null and void, fit and
proper, annul and set aside, legal and valid, aid and abate, acknowledge
and confess, furnish and supply, care and attention, terms and
conditions, perform and discharge etc. Examples of triplets: Arbitrary,
capricious and unreasonable; give, devise and bequeath; grant, bargain
and sell; name, constitute and appoint; acts, defaults and gross
negligence; convey, transfer and set over; order, adjudge and decree;
remise, release and forever quit claim; right, title and interest; rest,
residue and remainder; signed, sealed and delivered among others.

This convention motivates the use of long list of synonyms, near-synonyms

and converse words in legal documents as in the extract below.

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From any and all manner of action or actions, cause or causes

of action, suits, debts, dues, sum of money, accounts,
reckonings, bonds bill, specialities, covenants contracts,
controversies, agreements, promises, trespasses, ,damages,
judgments, executions, claims and demands whatsoever, in
law or equity, which against him I have had, now have, or
which my heirs, executors, or administrators, hereafter can,
shall, or may have, for or by reason of any matter, cause, or
thing whatsoever, from the beginning of the world to the day
of the date of these presents… (Crystal, 1997, p.391).

… the Donee may direct, appoint and delegate to any person,

persons any or all of the powers herein conferred on him to
the extent that the doctrine of ‘Delegatus Non Potest Delegare
shall not apply …. (Imhanobe,2002, p.726).

The Donors of this Power are the administrators and

administratix of the Estate of ABC who died intestate
…hereby nominate constitute and appoint Chief WTS of …
my ATTORNEY in our names and on our behalf to do and
execute ….

To manage superintend exchange surrender mortgage charge

pledge sublet take possession of or otherwise enforce any
power to sell realize and obtain ….

While original, the stringing of these words were done for the sake of
completeness of meanings and reflect the uncertainty of early draftsmen as
to whether the two or three terms had the same meaning and their taking
the safest course of action by including both (Crystal, 1997), it now often
combines words with identical meanings, such as default failure; breach
violation; privy, agent; properties and appurtenances; losses, damages

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and expenses. Hence, these words are tautologies and as one of the words
is redundant, it does little to the meaning being expressed.

Modifiers and proforms are also lexical items that feature in legal English.
For example, the same, the said, the aforementioned, the aforesaid, the
hereinafter etc. The use of these forms does not replace the nouns they refer
to; rather they are used as adjectives to modify the nouns. Examples: the
said Mr. Kalu/ police officer; the aforementioned client, the hereinafter
known/mentioned client, the said land.

Phrasal verbs also feature as prominent lexical items in legal English. They
play a vital role in legal English as they are often used in quasi-technical
sense. For example, “parties enter into contracts; put down deposits; serve
documents upon other parties; write off debts; bound by any notification
of changes.

Names and words ending in ‘-er’, ‘-or’, and ‘-ee’ and also foreign words
occur in legal English. Examples of such words and titles (names) are lessor
and lessee, appointer and appointee, donor, donee, mortgagor mortgagee,
assignor assignee. In these words the reciprocal and opposite nature of the
relationship is indicated by the use of alternative endings. However,
whereas this is the general pattern in conveyance where the party granting
property is the one whose title ends with “-or” and the title of the party
receiving the benefit ends with “-ee”, in mortgage transactions the reverse
is the case. The borrower is the “mortgagor”. For most law students and
many laypersons, this constitutes a problem. This is because an ordinary
English dictionary mostly does not have the definitions of many legal terms
and words.

Foreign words and phrases that feature in legal English are mainly of Latin
and French origin. Latin words and phrases, including some that have
become part of the English language as a whole (e.g.: affidavit, alibi, alias

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etc) feature in LE. Examples of pure Latin words are: obiter dictum, corpus
delicti, caveat emptor, ejusdem generis, per stirpes, quasi, ex post facto,
ad idem, res gestae, retraxit, sui juris, lex loci actus, vis major, ceteris
paribus, nolle prosequi. Examplesof words of French root are property,
estate, lease, chattel, tenant, executor, judge, attorney, demurrer, plaintiff,
sue, verdict, plea, fee simple, court martial, attorney general, letter,
testamentory.

Syntactic Features
The length and complexity of sentences in legal language is the most
obvious syntactic feature. This is a consequence of the use of doublets,
triplets, lack of punctuation, peculiar word order, and repetition, long noun
phrases with many modifications, prepositional phrases as well as
coordinate and subordinate clauses. This use of lengthy sentences leads to
lack of clarity and dullness. Example:

The applicant agrees to assume full responsibility for the

genuineness or correctness and validity of all endorsements
appearing on all instructions and further irrevocably and
unconditionally accepts responsibility for any loss, claim
(including third party claims) or damages whatsoever that
may arise as a result of inputting wrong
information/instruction or figures and in consequence agrees
to hold the bank harmless and without liability for any loss
the applicant may suffer as a result thereof and to indemnity
the Bank on demand against all losses, cost (including legal
cost), claims or damages suffered by the Bank in respect of
same ( excerpt from the terms and conditions of a commercial
bank’s local currency fund transfer form).

The provision for termination hereinafter appearing will at

the cost of the borrower forthwith comply with the same after

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the payment of this premium at any time during the period of

insurance stated in the schedule (excerpt from an insurance
cover form)

Lack of punctuation in legal English is traceable to archaic legal drafting,

particularly in conveyances, deeds, power of attorney, policy agreement
etc. The conspicuous absence of punctuation arose from the perception of
lawyers that meanings of legal documents should be and are contained only
in the words used and that punctuation created ambiguity which could give
opportunities for misinterpretation (Crystal & Davy, 2016).

Another reason for lack of punctuation is the concern that punctuation

could be added undetectably to a document after it came into effect, altering
its meaning. Therefore, the presence of punctuation could be used to detect
any tampering with the original document. However, punctuation is now
more commonly used in legal drafting in order to clarify the meaning of
any particular sentence ((Imhanobe, 2002)). Example of a legal text that
lacks punctuation is given below.

In the winding up of an insolvent company registered in

Nigeria the same rules shall prevail and be observed with
regard to the respective rights of secured and unsecured
creditors and to debts provable and to valuation of annuities
and future and contingent liabilities as are in force for the time
being under the law of bankruptcy in Nigeria with respect to
the estates of persons adjudged bankrupt, and all persons
who in any such case would be entitled to prove for and
receive dividends out of the assets of the company may come
in under the winding up and make such claims against the
company as they respectively are entitled to by virtue of this
section ((Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004, p.258).

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Norminalization is another syntactic feature of legal language. In legal

English, nouns derived from verbs are used instead of the verbs, such as to
give consideration instead of to consider, to be in opposition instead of to
oppose, to be in contravention instead of to contravene, to be in
agreement instead of to agree. Through this morphological process, legal
texts are long, non-dynamic and dull. However, though this has been
criticized and preference for plain English suggested, in legalese it is hard
to eradicate nominalization. This is because lawyers do not say “to arbitrate
but to go into arbitration because the arbitration is a legally defined
procedure and should be considered as such”(Bhatia, 2014, p.20). This
shows the extreme lexico-grammatical conventions and the conservativism
of legal English.

The style of legal language is impersonal; personal expressions are avoided.

Depending on the party which the lawyers represent in court trials, they
make frequent use of words and phrases that reduce the agent in his (the
party) identity while emphasizing the action. Thus, the use of passive voice
and peculiar use of pronouns that characterize highly impersonal
documents feature in legal English. Legal documents such as court
judgments, rulings, contract agreements etc, contain passive verbs, and the
modal auxiliary, ‘shall’ is used instead of ‘will’, especially when obligations
or conditions are imposed. This is motivated by the efforts of legal
professional to achieve maximum objectivity.
Example:

i. The accused shall be remanded in prison custody pending the

determination of the motion for bail.
ii. A declaration that the purported malicious, vexations and
premature retirement of the plaintiff from the substantive civil
service career position as permanent secretary was done mala fides
therefore ultra vires the powers of the defendant… ((All Federation
Weekly Law Reports, 2007, part 395,p.372).

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In wills and testaments, the use of the second person pronoun (you)
is avoided. Rather what features is the first person pronoun. This is
because, there is no a direct order or warnings or charge to the
inheritors.
Example:
iii. This is the last will and testament of Mr.XYZ. I Mr.XYZ hereby
bequeath my property known as and situate at No. AB Azikiwe
Road, Aba to my first son James XYZ.
iv. I give, devise and bequeath all the remaining and residual property
I have ownership in at the time of my death, whether real property,
personal property or both, of whatever kind and wherever situated
to my first son, James XYZ absolutely and entirely.
Upon my death I direct that my remains….

Even the witnesses attestation section of wills and testament do not use the
third person pronouns, or the second person, rather nouns/noun phrases
are used.

Example:
As at the date of Mr XYZ’s signature above, Mr XYZ declared
to us, the undersigned witnesses that the foregoing Last Will
and Testament consisting of seventy (70) pages including this
page expresses Mr XYZ’s true and sincerest wishes and will.
Mr XYZ signed this Last Will and Testament in our presence
and then we signed this Last Will and Testament in Mr XYZ’s
presence and in the presence of each other at the address
shown immediately above Mr XYZ’s signature.

In legal drafting, anaphors are never used to link sentences; rather

repetition of nouns/noun phrases occurs. This is to avoid imprecision and
ambiguity. Hence, legal English is notable for the extreme scarcity, even

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within sentence structure, of pronoun reference and anaphora which are

used extensively in other varieties of English ((Veretina, 2012; Crystal,
1997). Hence, a syntactic cum stylistic feature of legal English is the use of
repetition. Similarly, the pronoun, it, which is a common cross-referencing
item in other varieties of English, is used in legal writing only in
constructions such as, it is agreed as follows, where ‘it’ is a filler of the
subject position rather than a substitute for anything that might be
identified as an antecedent.

The indefinite pronouns, everyone, everybody, every person etc are used
when a provision applies to all and no one, or nobody is used in
prohibition. The intent is to create the impression that law is impartial, but
such generalizations are most often vague (Crystal & Davy, 2016; Veretina,
2012).
Example:

Be it known that by this notice/order everybody is

prohibited from having anything to do with the property
known as and called No. TYK Azikiwe Road, Aba as same
is the subject matter of a pending suit.

The above features are predominant in written legal English. Though, the
legal vocabulary and style occur in spoken legal English, the spoken legal
English is closer to ordinary English than the written type, in terms of
simplification and familiarity to the ordinary people, especially those who
have interest in courtroom discourse. Nevertheless, spoken Legal English
has some notable lexical and syntactic features. Expressions such as the
witness is prepared for evidence, read the charge, charge sheet, apply to
tender a document as exhibit, reply to address, admit document, accept
as exhibit and marked accordingly etc feature in spoken legal English.

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Spoken legal language involves listening to oral presentation of conflicting

sets of facts. Therefore, language counts for everything. In terms of
structure analysis, the spoken language of trial is little more than a
narrative, with a beginning (the opening statement: E.g.: Clerk, read the
charge to him/ the accused), middle (the presentation of evidence) and end
(the closing argument and verdict). Syntactically, the ‘official story-tellers’
(counsels for the defense and for the prosecution) make use of interrogative
sentences which may be in outright direct Wh-question or Yes/No question
forms, or in indicative interrogative forms. Example:

What did you see when you entered the kitchen?

Did you say there was nobody else with you that day?
Or
You said there was nobody else with you that day?

For the witnesses, the sentences are declaratives and Yes/No answer to
polar questions. These sentences are assertive.

Generally, spoken legal English is a well calculated, though complicated

means of exchanging (demand and give) information about conflicting sets
of facts. Hence, there are recurrent choices of words, phrases, and sentences
e.g.: I put it to you; honourable court; objection over-ruled/sustained; as
the court pleases, my lord/ your honour/ worship; may it please the court;
whereas… (in contrast); you may approach the bench; hear ye, hear ye,
hear ye; I do solemnly swear…; the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth, signed, sealed and delivered; show cause; alleged; strike
out; call among others.

Social and Pedagogical Implications of the Lexical and Syntactic Features

Our discussion has shown that LE has some peculiar lexical and syntactic
features, notable among which are its obscurity, complexity and archaism.
These peculiarities grew out of the historical development of the English

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language and its traditional entrenched principles of precision, certainty

and clarity arising from the mixture of English, French and Latin.
The consistency of these features in LE makes it a ritualistic language. Legal
English therefore is a highly specialized sublanguage that is not well-
known to the general populace for whom its contents are meant. Its
obscurities, and complexities, combined with excessive use of archaic
expressions maintains its image as something inaccessible, mysterious and
frightening, enabling the lawyers to maintain and hold onto power
(Northcott, 2013). This makes the interpretation and comprehension of legal
texts difficult for the lay people.

As there is no other variety of English language where users are so much

concerned with the nuances of meaning conveyed by words, phrases and
sentences, where unstated intentions are so disregarded, and where the
history of previous usage counts so much, the fundamental principle is that
words of the law are in fact the law (Crystal, 1997). The implication
therefore is that there should be a simplification of LE and a teaching of
legal vocabulary.

In response to the simplification of LE, there has been a persistent call by

the “Plain English Campaign” for making legal English understandable for
everyone (Wydick & Sloan, 2005; Crystal, 1997). They suggest that
eliminating archaic expressions, simplifying of its syntactic structure and
adding of punctuation would make legal English more intelligible and
easily understood by the layman. In addition, it would save much time,
anxiety and money and also greatly simplify the job of lawyers themselves.
However, defenders of the complexity of legal English hold that its nature
and peculiar linguistic features are the product of centuries of efforts to
device unambiguous, reliable and authoritative means of regulating human
society and resolving conflicts. Hence, the need for consistency in legal
interpretations and for confidence in judgments far outweighs the gains

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that would accrue from an increase in popular understanding (Ramsfield,

2005; Veretina, 2012).
Though plain English is gradually creeping into legal English, its long
entrenched tradition of precision and the desirability of lawyers to
safeguard their ‘learned’ profession and themselves as the ones
knowledgeable about the formulation, codification and interpretation of
laws (rules) that govern human social behaviour and that adjudicate over
disputes that arise from any break down of law have made the pace of
change very slow. Lawyers therefore still use the legal language to set
themselves apart from lay people and to create group cohesion. So, LE
functions as a bond and unity; as such its core peculiarities will continue to
remain despite any simplification that may be allowed. It is still quite
common to see typical legalese features in present day legal documents.
E.g.:

Whether on principles of ubi jus ubi remedium the trial

Judge was correct in not awarding damages to the
appellants against the respondents. (All Federation Weekly
Law Reports, 2007, part 395, pp.485-486).

Legal texts, whether written or spoken, are frequently performative and

normative with intended legal effects, and lawyers understand the
reasoning behind every legal text while the laypersons lack such
understanding. There is therefore the need for a close cooperation with
lawyers in order to facilitate the simplification of legal English thereby
mitigates the power imbalance in the understanding of legal discourse. This
is important because an understanding of the micro-discourse structures of
legal English such as lexical choices and syntactic forms leads to an
understanding of the macro-discourse structures of legal texts such as
power relations embedded in any legal documents, whether contracts, wills
and testaments or court judgments and rulings.

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Conclusion
The peculiar lexical and syntactic features of LE derive from its traditional
historical development that was greatly influenced by Latin, French and
Old English. Also, its long entrenched linguistic and stylistic tradition of
precision, clarity has impacted on its enduring peculiarities.

Having knowledge of the features of legal English is of great significance

not only to law students, lawyers, translators, but also to lay persons who
evidently are the end consumers of legal documents. As all legal texts are
performative with intended legal effects, competent knowledge of the
linguistic and stylistic features of legal English will be beneficial to both the
law students and the lay persons. For the law students, it makes learning
more effective and efficient, but for the lay person it provides opportunities
for interpreting and understanding legal documents with less difficulty.

The lexical features of legal English show that it has a wide range of
vocabulary. Large portion of the words are highly formal, polysemous and
obscure. The many archaic Latin and French words are technical terms and
though their use in legal documents has become more idiomatic, to the un-
initiated lay person their meanings are still vague. Its syntactic features are
characterized by complex lengthy sentences and the collocation of
synonyms, near-synonyms and converse words. The complexity and long-
unending structure of sentences in LE are achieved through the
coordination of adverbials, high nominalization, lack of punctuation,
repetition of lexical item, high proportion of non-finite structures. These
features make legal English obscure to the lay person; hence, the advocacy
for its simplification.

Given that all legal documents are performative and normative with
intended legal effects, a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of which is
usually detrimental, it is therefore recommended that the teaching of legal
English as a specific aspect of the Use of English programme in Nigerian

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tertiary institutions be pursued. Also to help law students appreciate the

relationship between what they are taught in the classroom and the actual
real-life legal practice, the teaching of legal English is therefore
recommended. English language lecturers from the core English
departments or from the General Studies Unit should collaborate with law
lecturers. The essence of this is to make LE accessible to both legal
practitioners in professional and academic fields and the lay people who
are eventually the consumers of legal documents.

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