Chapter 11Stylistics of Legal English修改后.docx

Chapter 11Stylistics of Legal English修改后.docx

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Chapter11StylisticsofLegalEnglish修改后

Chapter11StylisticsofLegalEnglish

Contentsofthischapter

1.Introduction

2.GenerallinguisticFeaturesofLegalEnglish

3.StylisticFeaturesandEffectsofLegalEnglish

3.1LexicalLevel

3.2SyntacticLevel

3.3Rhetoricallevel

3.4Discoursallevel

5.Summary

1.Introduction

AsafunctionalvarietyofEnglish,legalEnglishdisplaysmanydistinctstylisticfeatureswhichdistinguishitfromliteraryworksanddailyspeech.

ThischapteraimstodealwiththestylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishatthelevelsoflexis,syntax,rhetoric,anddiscoursestructureinlightofthetheoriesofmodernlinguistics.

AsummaryofthelinguisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishwillfirstofallbesuppliedsothatthereaderwillbeabletohaveabetterunderstandingofthestylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglish.

1.1Definitionof“legalEnglish”,“legalEnglishStyle”and“LegalEnglishStylistics”

LegalEnglishisalsoreferredtoas“Englishof/forthelaws”or“Englishforthelegalprofession”.Thewriterofthischapterpreferstheterm“legalEnglish”toothersforitisageneralnamewhichismoreinclusive.ThistermisalsousedbynativespeakersofEnglish.Mcarthur（2001:

348）juxtaposestheentryLEGALUSAGEwithLegalEnglishwhenhenotesthatlegalusageis“theregisterofthelegalprofession.”Inhiseyes,“thetermcoverstheformulasandstylesofbothcourtsoflawinallEnglish-speakingcountriesandsuchdocumentsascontractsandwrits.”

ThenwhatislegalEnglish?

Inmyopinion,itcanbedefinedatleastfromthefollowingthreeperspectives,namely,variety,style,andlanguage.

Firstly,fromthevariantpointofview,legalEnglishisonekindofvariantofEnglishlikeEnglishforscienceandtechnology,medicalEnglish,commercialEnglish,financialEnglish,advertisingEnglishandsoon.

Secondly,fromthestylisticangle,legalEnglishisonekindofEnglishstylewhichisusedinlegalconceptsorlitigationornon-litigationaffairsbypeopleespeciallytheworkersinthelegalprofession.

Thirdly,someexpertsemphasizethatlegallanguageisakindoflanguage:

1）LegalEnglishisthelanguagewhichpossessesthelegalprofessionalfeaturesbasedonthecommonEnglish,formedandusedintheactivitiesoflegislationandjudicature（ZhangXinhong,2002）;2）Mellinkoff（1963:

3-4）,theauthorityoftheAmericanLegalInstitute,holdsthatlegalEnglishreferstotheEnglishlanguageoflaw.

LegalEnglishisatypeoflegallanguage,afrontiersciencepartiallyoverlapping（？

）linguisticsandthescienceoflaw.LikeEnglishforscienceandtechnology,medicalEnglish,commercialEnglish,financialEnglish,andadvertisingEnglish,legalEnglishistheproductofconstructionofthelegalsystemsincethereformandimplementationofopen-doorpolicy.

ThestyleoflegalEnglishisviewedasthesetoffeaturesofEnglishlanguageoflawthatmakethelegalEnglishusersdistinctive—thebasisoftheirpersonallinguisticidentity.AndstylisticsoflegalEnglishreferstothestudyofstyleoflegalEnglish.

1.2ImportanceofLearningLegalEnglishStyleandLegalEnglishStylistics

WithitsentryintotheWTO,Chinainvolvesitselfintheworld’seconomymoreprofoundlyandwidely.Inthecontemporaryhighlylegalizedsociety,lawsarecloselyrelatedwithpeople’seconomicactivities.WhileoverseasinvestorsinChinaneedtolearnaboutChina’slaws,andtoconformtotheinternationalbusinesspractice,weChinesealsoneedtolearnaboutothercountries’laws.

ToknowtheknowledgeoflegalEnglishcanmakethosewhoarefondoflegalEnglishorworkersofthelegalprofessionsuchaslawyers,judgesandtranslatorseasiertoreadandunderstandthelawsinEnglish.

Moreover,underthecurrentcircumstances,thetranslationoflegaldocumentsalsobecomesincreasinglyimportant.Reasonably,adeepunderstandingofthestyleoflegallanguagewillbeveryhelpfulfordoinglawtranslation.

2.GenerallinguisticFeaturesofLegalEnglish

ItisreallytruethatmuchofthedifficultythatlawyershavewhilecommunicatingwithpeoplewhodonotmajorinLawisnotsimplyanissueofsocialandphysicalworld.Forinstance,inthelegallanguage,“justice”doesnothavethesamemeaningastheeverydaycommonsense.Furthermore,therearearangeofprocessesandinstitutionsthatareuniquetothelegalsystem,soreferringtothemrequiresaspecialistlanguage.

SocomparedwiththecommonEnglish,inmyopinion,legalEnglishhasitsownfeaturesasfollows.

2.1PreciseandAccurate

Legalexpertshavelongacknowledgedthat“…languageisnotmerelyaninstrumentwhichwecancontrolatwill;itcontrolsus.”PrecisionisofspecialimportanceforlegalEnglish.Opposingthemselvesto“theinherentvaguenessoflanguage,lawyersmakemanyattemptsatprecisionofexpression.”（Mellinkoff,1963）

LegalEnglishhasoperatedduringalonghistorywiththepurposeofstipulatingtheobligationsandrangesfromgovernmentalaffairstopersonalconducts.Sothelawyersandthelawmakersmustbemorepreciseinhiswritingthanalmostanyoneelse.Forthelawyers,theyshouldexpecttheirworktobereadingoodfaithtoavoidtheloopholesinthecontractpeoplelookforandthewronginterpretationofthestatute.Forthelawmakers,theyshouldsetforththelegislationideologyandthespecificlawsinpreciselegallanguagesothatthejudicialofficersandallthecitizenscanlearnascitizensofastatewhatrightstheyenjoyandwhatobligationstheyshallassume,andwhatmaybeincurredoncethelawisviolated.Infact,itisthesameforbothofthem,thatis,anywordorsentencethatisliabletocauseambiguityistobeavoided.

Therefore,itisvitalforthelawyersandthelawmakerstomakethelegaldocumentshighlyeffectivewithinalimitedformsoastoavoideverypossibleambiguityandmisunderstandingintheinterpretationofthelaw.Theessenceofeverylegaldocumentshouldbedefinitelypreciseandclear.Itcanbesaidthatprecisionandaccuracyisthesoulandlifeoflegallanguage.

2.2FormalandAuthoritative

AccordingtoMartinJoosinhisbookTheFiveClocks,languagecanbeclassifiedintofivedifferentstyles:

thefrozenstyle,theformalstyle,theconsultativestyle,thecasualstyleandtheintimatestyle.Thefrozenstylereferstothemostformalstyle,commonlyusedinverysolemncircumstancesuchaslegaldocumentsandreligiousritualswhereastheintimatestyleistheleastformalone,frequentlyadoptedincommunicationsbetweenfamilymembersortheclosestpeople.Therestthreestylesarebetweenthetwolimitswiththeirformalitydroppinggradually.

Allthelegaldocumentssharethesameaim,ifany:

tostipulaterightsandobligationsrespectivelyofthepartiesthereto.UnliketheotherstylesofEnglishasthemeansofcommunication,legaldocumentsarethetooltobeutilizedtoinformthereceptorsandthereceptorsare,tosomeextent,passiveintheprocessofcommunication.

LegalEnglishisthemostformalinallEnglishstyles.Inotherwords,itisthemostformalwrittenEnglishinallEnglishfunctionalstyles,evenallEnglishstyles.（HouWeirui,1988:

297,319）Sofarasformalityisconcerned,legaldocumentsareofthemostformalstyle.

2.3ConciseandExplicit

Concisenessisparticularlyimportantforlawyers.Morethanmostwriterstheymustsayexactlywhattheymean,nomoreandnoless;everyadditionalwordisonemorepotentialsourceofambiguity.Thepurposeoflegalwritingistoconveyinformationaccuratelyandefficiently.“Omitneedlesswords”isoneofthefundamentalprinciplesofcomposition.

2.4Normal（Isnormativebetter?

）andStandard

SincelegalEnglishisthemostformalinallEnglishfunctionalstyles,evenallEnglishstyles（HouWeirui,1988:

297）,formalandauthoritativeflavoriskeptinrespecttochoiceofwords,phrases,andsentencepatterns.Descriptivemodifiers,slang,vulgarism,aswellasloosesentencesarerarelyresortedto.Anacceptednormativeformat,arrangedwithnumberedarticlesandclauses,isformatofthelegaldocument,whichhasbeenpolishedbythedraftsmanandcheckedtimeandagainbytheusersofthedocument.Inthiswaythevagueandambiguouspartsarealleliminated.Lawuserscaneasilyunderstandwhatrightsandobligationsthereare,andhavenotroublefollowinguptheformattosolvetheproblemsifany.

3.StylisticFeaturesandEffectsofLegalEnglish

3.1LexicalLevel

Ifweclaimthatlegallanguageisdistinctivefromotherkindsofdiscourse,itslexiconmightbethefirstfactortobeconsidered.

3.1.1UseofSolemn,Standard,andWrittenWords

Considerthefollowingtwoexamplesfirst:

（1）Thislawispromulgatedwiththepurposeofregulatinginsuranceactivities,protectingthelegitimaterightsandinterestsofthepartiesinvolved,strengtheningsupervisionandregulationoftheinsuranceindustryandpromotingitshealthydevelopment.（为了规范保险活动,保护保险活动当事人的合法权益,加强对保险业的监督管理,促进保险事业的健康发展,制定本法）

（2）ThisLawisformulatedforthepurposeofstandardizingnegotiableinstrumentactsprotectingthelegalrightsofpartiesconcernedinnegotiableinstrumentactivities,maintainingthesocialistmarketeconomy.（为了规范票据行为,保障票据活动中当事人的合法权益,维护社会经济秩序,促进社会主义市场经济的发展,制订本法。

）

Intheabovetwoexamples,“promulgate”,“formulate”,“standardize”,“maintain”,and“promote”areveryformalwrittenlanguageandthereisnomodificationandexaggeration.Inaddition,theprepositionalphrasessuchas“inaccordancewith”,“inconsistencywith”,and“incompliancewith”,thoughnotformal（?

）,areoftenusedinlegaldocuments,whereas“accordingto”,“beconsistentwith”,and“complywith”occurincommonEnglish.

3.1.2FrequentUseofLoanwordsandOldandMiddleEnglish