English Helen Gubby legal terminology Legal concepts in language Fourth edition b o o m j u r i d i s c h e s t u d i e b o e k e n E Englishlegalterminology English legal terminology Legal concepts in language Dr.HelenGubby,barrister Fourthedition Published,soldanddistributedbyElevenInternationalPublishing P.O.Box85576 2508CGTheHague TheNetherlands Tel.:+31703307033 Fax:+31703307030 e-mail:[email protected] www.elevenpub.com SoldanddistributedinUSAandCanada InternationalSpecializedBookServices 920NE58thAvenue,Suite300 Portland,OR97213-3786,USA Tel.:1-800-944-6190(toll-free) Fax:+1-503-280-8832 [email protected] www.isbs.com ElevenInternationalPublishingisanimprintofBoomuitgeversDenHaag. ISBN978-94-6236-604-6 ISBN978-94-6274-382-3(E-book) ©2016HelenGubby|ElevenInternationalPublishing Thispublicationisprotectedbyinternationalcopyrightlaw. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher. PrintedinTheNetherlands. Preface to the fourth edition Legal vocabulary never stands still. For example, since the third edition there have beensomechangestothecourtsystemintheUnitedKingdom.Moreoftheoldterms once used in civil procedure vocabulary have also disappeared. In tort law, the UK Defamation Act 2013 saw the demise of some older terminology; the defence of ‘justification’ was replaced by the more self-explanatory defence of ‘truth’, and the old ‘fair comment’ defence was abandoned in favour of the defences of ‘honest opinion’ and ‘publication on a matter of public interest’. In some instances, the use of certain terms has become relatively settled, for example in EU law it is now more commontorefertothe‘CounciloftheEuropeanUnion’ratherthantothe‘Councilof Ministers’. Theopportunitywasalsotakentomakeothermodifications.Morecomparisonswith terminologytypicallyusedintheUnitedStateshavebeengiven.Withrespecttosome terminology,additionaldetailwasgivenbecauseitwasclearfromstudents’questions thatfurtherexplanationwouldbedesirable. I have retained the acknowledgments that appeared when the first edition was published. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I am still grateful to the people who helped me then. Secondly, I wish to stress that I have relied on the works of others.Tokeepthisasapracticalhandbook,Ihavenotusedfootnotes,butIdowant toacknowledgemysources. HelenGubby Rotterdam,theNetherlands June2015 5 Preface to the first edition: acknowledgments Asthisbookisintendedasashort,practicalhandbookonEnglishlegalterminology,I did not want to use footnotes. This does not mean, however, that I have not relied heavilyontheworksofothers.Ihaveusedarangeofbooks:fromstandardtextbooks mainlyonEnglishlaw,legaldictionariesthroughtostudentrevisionbooks.Theywere alluseful.Thetextbooksgavemeasounddescriptionofthelaw,thelegaldictionaries helped me out in trying to develop some of the definitions and the student revision bookswereanexcellentwayofisolatingthemostimportanttermsassociatedwitha particularareaoflaw.Themainsourcesarelistedinthebibliography. I would also like to thank several individuals for the help they offered me with this book.Iam,onceagain,gratefultomyoldfriendAlisonHamptonfortakingtimeout ofherbusyscheduleasajudge,thistimetocheckthroughtheEnglishlawsectionsof chapters1and2.MythanksarealsoduetoDr.FloraGoudappel,lecturerinEuropean law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, who generously gave of her time to read throughchapter3.SandraDixon,whonowworksintheNetherlandsasalegaleditor andtranslatorbutonceworkedasanattorneyintheUSA,waskindenoughtostudy the parts on American law in chapters 1 and 2 and to answer specific questions on Americanlawinsomeoftheotherchapters.Finally,awordofthankstoanotherold friend,VanessaJames,wholookedatchapter6notasalawyerbutthroughtheeyes ofanexperiencedcompanydirector. I have taken great care with the contents of this book. Nonetheless, as an ordinary human being, I am not infallible: it is always possible that inaccuracies creep in. I would, therefore, be very grateful to the readers of this book if they would let me know,viathepublisher,ofanysuchinaccuracies.Thee-mailaddressis:[email protected]. HelenGubby CapelleaandenIJssel,theNetherlands June2004 6 Contents Introduction 9 Chapter 1 Legal system terminology 13 Legalsystemterminologyincontext 15 Legalsystemvocabulary 37 Legalsystemdiscussionquestions 45 Legalsystemknowledgequestions 46 Chapter 2 Civil procedureterminology 47 Civilprocedureterminologyincontext 49 Civilprocedurevocabulary 71 Civilprocedurediscussionquestionsandcasediscussion 83 Civilprocedureknowledgequestions 84 Chapter 3 European Union law terminology 85 EuropeanUnionlawterminologyincontext 87 EuropeanUnionlawvocabulary 109 EuropeanUnionlawcasediscussions 119 EuropeanUnionlawknowledgequestions 120 Chapter 4 Tort terminology 121 Tortterminologyincontext 123 Tortvocabulary 145 Tortcasediscussions 155 Tortknowledgequestions 156 Chapter 5 Contract law terminology 157 Contractlawterminologyincontext 159 Contractlawvocabulary 191 7 contents Contractlawcasediscussions 205 Contractlawknowledgequestions 207 Chapter 6 Company law terminology 209 Companylawterminologyincontext 211 Companylawvocabulary 241 Companylawcasediscussions 255 Companylawknowledgequestions 256 Bibliography 257 Appendix 259 1 Exampleofacasereporthead-note:McLoughlinvO’Brian1982 (AllER1982/2,pp.298-299) 261 2 Thehead-noteofDonoghuevStevenson1932 (AllERRep1932/1,pp.1-2) 263 3 Extractfromastatute:theUnfairContractTermsAct1977 (CrownCopyright,Internetversion) 265 Index 271 8 Introduction ItusedtobeLatin.NowitisEnglish.Englishhastakenovernotonlyasthelanguage of international academia but also of trade and commerce. It is, therefore, not surprising that the international language of the legal transaction is English too. Unfortunately, legal English and ordinary English are not identical languages. A non-native speaker could be very proficient in ordinary English and still be lost for wordsinalegaldiscussion.EvenanativeEnglishspeakermayfindlegalEnglishquite inaccessible if he has no legal training. This is because legal English is a professional language and uses certain words and expressions that are totally outside the experience of a layperson. Some words are only found in legal English, for example theword‘rescission’.SometimesthewordisthesameasanordinaryEnglishword,but withaquitedifferent,specificlegalmeaning,forexampletheword‘consideration’. For students who have studied law, but have not done so in English, this legal terminology is not familiar. However, ignorance of legal English can hold students back if they are studying law in English. Having to read, write and discuss legal mattersentirelyinEnglishisoftenadauntingtaskforinternationalstudents. Legal English may also pose problems for legal practitioners who have not studied law in English, even though their command of ordinary English may be very good. Law firms, with an international clientele, correspond with their clients in English. A Dutch lawyer, for example, may find himself having to write a letter in EnglishtoanAmericanclientexplainingthelegalpositionaccordingtoDutchlaw.Itis alsoquitepossiblethatneitherpartyisanativeEnglishspeaker:alettergivinglegal adviceinEnglishcouldjustaseasilybebetweenaGermanlawyerandaPolishclient. Inthesecases,Englishlawitselfisnotrelevant.Nonetheless,Englishlegalterminology hastobeusedtoexplainanothercountry’slaw.Gettingthelegalterminologywrong couldbeacostlymistake. WhenIbeganteachinglegalEnglishintheNetherlands,IfoundthatIhadto developmyowncoursematerial.ThereweremanyexcellentEnglishlegaldictionaries available, ditto textbooks on English law. However, there were no books aimed at teachingEnglishlegalterminologyitself.Englishlawtextbooksare,ofcourse,geared up to teaching the intricacies of English law. Legal dictionaries are helpful, but they are organised according to the traditional framework for dictionaries i.e., alphabeti- cally. Essentially this means that words are presented to the reader in isolation. Yet English legal terminology can only be understood properly in context. The terminol- ogyarisesfromthecommonlawandmustalwaysbeviewedagainstthisbackground. 9