Legal language is the language of law, lawyers and Courts. Necessity of legal language arises in many circumstances which include the following :-
(1) Oral representations, submissions and arguments before Courts.
(2) Consultation among judges.
(3) Communication between Judge and Advocate
(4) Communication among lawyers
(5) Consultation among lawyer, client and witnesses
(6) Interpretation of statutes.
(7) Drafting of pleadings and proceedings such as plaints, original petitions, written statements, interlocutory applications, affidavits, private complaints, memorandum of appeals, revision petitions, judgment, decrees, orders etc.
(8) Drafting of legal documents of conveyancing in order to confer, create, define, extend, extinguish, restrict, release or transfer property or other rights such as deeds of agreement, exchange, gift, guarantee, hire purchase, indemnity, lease, licence, mortgage, notice, partition, partnership, power of attorney, promissory note, receipt, release, reconveyance, sale, settlement, trust, will etc.
(9) Editing and writing text books, articles, reports, commentaries, digests etc.on subjects of law
(10) Legislative drafting of statutes, ordinances, rules, regulations, orders,notifications, circulars, bye laws etc.
(11) Lectures on law and law teaching.
(12) Communication between teacher and student on subjects of law.
Oral representations, submissions and arguments before Courts will often become necessary in a variety of circumstances for a practising lawyer. He has to argue on various occasions on different points according to the nature, facts, law and evidence of the case. In certain cases, even at the admission stage itself, the judge is to be convinced of the excellence and existence of the justifying grounds of their maintainability
During the course of legal proceedings, parties may require interim reliefs. The decision of such matters depends upon the rights to which the parties are entitled. The Advocate should assert such rights by credible, conceivable and convincing argument.
An Advocate must develop the capacity to meet any point that may be raised t any time either by the judge or the adversary. During the course of legal proceedings there may arise many instances where the argument depends upon the resources of the moment
An Advocate must use proper legal terms in their proper contexts. Meaning of words in the legal parlance may differ from those in the common parlance. For example let us consider the terms “plaint” and “complaint Though both these terms refer to the grievances of an aggrieved party, the term “plaint is used in civil proceedings and the term “complaint is used in criminal proceedings only. The popular meaning of the word “consideration is to think about or being thought about, but in the law of contracts “consideration is an essential element of a valid contract, and it is an act or abstinence or promise by the promisee or any other person at the desire of the promisor. The word “sanction in common parlance means “permission or approval whereas, in law it has also a technical meaning as “evil consequences for disobeying laws. In this manner, there are many terms in law which have well defined meanings Statutes usually contain a clause namely “definition clause” or “interpretation clause” which explains The meaning of certain terms and expressions used in the statutes.
A strong vocabulary is one of the powerful weapons of an Advocate. It will build his self confidence and increase his personality. His command of language will improve the process of his mind which will enable him to present cases impressively with eloquence. By a convincing argument, a cause which was thought of as seemingly lost may be rescued.
In Legal Drafting also, application of proper legal terms in their proper place and context is absolutely essential. Legal Drafting is concerned with the drafting of statements of parties to a case setting out their claims, counter claims, contentions and defences to be filed in Court Drafting of legal documents of conveyancing also is an important branch of the
study and practice of the law. Persons engaged in drafting deeds of conveyancing should acquire and develop sound knowledge of legal principles on the subject.
Legislative drafting is the basis and the most fundamental part of making laws Legislation is the enunciation or promulgation of laws by the Parliament and State Legislatures.
Legal language is indispensable for editing and writing text books, articles, reports, commentaries and digests and for teaching subjects on law Law students should try their best to acquire and develop thorough knowledge of legal principles and deep comprehension of legal terminology, both substantive and procedural.
Reference –
Legal language and legal writing by Prof. Dr. K. L. Bhatia.
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