{"id":8765,"date":"2017-11-20T06:49:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T06:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=8765"},"modified":"2017-11-20T07:47:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T07:47:36","slug":"law-french","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=8765","title":{"rendered":"Law French – the corrupted form of the Norman French language that arose in England in the centuries after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, being used for centuries afterward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Law French<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong>
\n(17c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The corrupted form of the Norman French language that arose in England in the centuries after William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and that was used for several centuries as the primary language of the English legal system; the Anglo-French used in medieval England in judicial proceedings, pleadings, and lawbooks.\u00a0<\/strong> Also written law French. -Abbr. L.F.\u00a0 See NORMAN FRENCH. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from Percy H. Winfield’s\u00a0The Chief Sources\u00a0<\/em><\/a>of English Legal History<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1925):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cThat Law French was barbarous in its decrepitude does not in the least diminish the value of it to our law when it was full of vitality. It helped to make English law one of the four indigenous systems of the civilized world, for it exactly expressed legal ideas in a technical language which had no precise equivalent.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from J.H. Baker’s\u00a0A\u00a0<\/em><\/a>Manual of Law French<\/em>\u00a0(1979):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cTo the linguist, law French is a corrupt dialect by definition.\u00a0 Anglo-French was in steady decline after 1300.\u00a0 Lawyers such as Fortescue, on the other hand, were probably serious in maintaining that it was the vernacular of France which was deteriorating by comparison with the pristine Norman of the English courts.\u00a0 That Fortescue could make such a claim, while living in France, is in itself a clear demonstration that by the middle of the fifteenth century there was a marked difference between the French of English lawyers and the French of France.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Excerpt from Bryan A. Garner’s\u00a0Garner\u2019s Dictionary of Legal Usage<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(3d ed. 2011):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cLaw French refers to the Anglo-Norman patois used in legal documents and all judicial proceedings from the 12605 to the reign of Edward Ill (1327-1377), and used with frequency in legal literature up to the early 18th century.\u00a0 When first introduced into England, this brand of French was the standard language used in Normandy; by the 1305, through linguistic isolation, it became a corrupted language \u2014 by French standards, at any rate.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

References:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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[1]: Black’s Law Dictionary <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Deluxe Tenth Edition<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/em> by Henry Campbell Black, Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-61300-4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]:\u00a0Percy H. Winfield, The Chief Sources\u00a0<\/em><\/a>of English Legal History<\/em><\/a> 14 (1925).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[3]:\u00a0J.H. Baker, A\u00a0<\/em><\/a>Manual of Law French<\/em> 11 (1979).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[4]:\u00a0Bryan A. Garner, Garner\u2019s Dictionary of Legal Usage<\/em><\/a> 520 (3d ed. 2011).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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