The Lawyers are often found using archaic Latin phrases in their daily conversations either making them part of their written pleadings or during oral arguments before the court, it is the employment of these Latin phrases/proverbs which at times make their job easy before the courts in cutting across their point reticently.
The constant use of the Latin maxims in cases, textbooks, treaties and scholarly works related to the legal field has been around there for quite a few centuries now, of course over some time many of these Latin words have become so common and usage of them in day to day parlance has made them seems to be English words.
History
The Latin as a language having its origin in Ancient Rome, an Italian city-state that got expanded to vast geography stretching through Europe, Asia and North Africa at its furthest reach around early 2nd century CE, and these expansionist policies through invasions in and around the Mediterranean brought Latin to that part of the world, it gained prominence in many areas of European life in the past it was the language of the emperors, the politicians of the state and spoken by mass of people in and around Rome during 6th century BC, it was the language of the pioneer Christian thinkers like Augustine and Aquinas, the Latin literature’s origin at the beginning comprised of translation of already existing Greek literature and other works of Greek origin around 250-100 BC.
The Latin literature’s most prominent of classical masterpieces were wrote, by the likes of Cicero, Caesar, Tacitus and Vergil during 100 BC to 150 AD and this period was also famously known as the era of classic Latin, Later during 200-550 AD smattering of literature adhered closely to the classical standards, others gradually become closure to the popular speech (e.g., St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible into Latin—the Vulgate), interestingly the Roman empire at its western flank was withering into the pieces but its eastern flank which was Greek-speaking was in good shape and using Latin in its official texts until the end of this period.
While during 600-750 AD Latin become a dead language, few people in the west outside of monasteries can read, the spoken languages of Italy, France and Spain changed rapidly. The Latin could only be preserved by the usage of Roman Catholic Church in its Liturgy and church documents, gradually they too started to deliver their homilies in the native popular languages, ironically during this time Byzantines still used to called themselves Romans but have given up on the Latin language.
As evident, it is the Church which has played a pivotal role in keeping this language alive for many centuries as it was the official language of the Church and whole ecclesiastical business was done in the Latin and which has further made it reach to the level of language of aristocrats and all erudite writing was done in Latin, a practice which continued until the 20th century at some of the universities.
During the Renaissance, which spreads from Italy to France and finally to England, people started reading Latin classical authors and bringing Latin words into their languages and it was the language in which prominent scientific revolutionaries e.g. Newton wrote principia mathematica, Galileo Siderus Nuncius a brief treatise on astronomical observations and other prominent works on modern statecraft by the likes of Hobbes and Thomas More, in England this period was called “aureate diction” which was considered evidence of great learnedness, so Latin became the shared language of Literature, Science, Poetry, Statecraft and of course of the Religious thought also.
Interestingly, the Latin attained the status of the sacred language (along with Greek and Hebrew). And those who could not read and write Latin were exposed to it by the Roman Catholic church services.
The Latin was been kept in vogue up till 1900, as it was been made compulsory language in colleges across the choice of subjects and to those who studied humanities has to study Greek as well, further many of the Latin roots which were borrowed during the aureate diction period have come to be seemed native and was been used in forming new words.
Eventually, it was the decision of the Roman Catholic Church during the 1960s, that Latin is no longer the obligatory language of Catholic liturgies. This marked gradually the decline of Latin from public usage and further, the language lost touch amongst the youngsters and English language by the time has become widely popular and attained prominence in public life.
Latin and Lawyers
It was the phase of Renaissance when Latin was a ubiquitous and commonplace language, widely spoken, read, and written across Europe and beyond, the legal system of Romans and a variation of which was later adopted by England and its former colonies commonly known as “Common Law” is when the intermingling of Law and Latin happened.
The usage of Latin over a period was so prominent that many of its words are used in common parlance in present times, and they have become now part of the common English language e.g. Intra, lacunae, malafide, per se, post mortem etc.
Some of the common examples of Latin words/maxims when lawyers decide to write things or speak are: prima facie – I am sure every one of us has heard of this one, and it’s probably one of the words in Latin that lawyers become exposed to very early and use it day in and day out. It means “on the face of it” but it is generally used in connection with whether someone, can make out a case against the other party in the first place.
bona fide – it means in good faith (of course everyone knows that). Unfortunately, It is still found in usage, although “good faith” is pretty easy to say instead of directly replacing it.
void ab initio – It means “void from the beginning” (void being one of those “not Latin but still Latin” words). It is used when something is declared to be completely obliterated from the past as if it had never been done, and further everything that happened as a consequence of it has to be undone.
mutatis mutandis –It means “with the necessary changes” and usually used in the context of contracts. For example, when you have written a lengthy clause and now want to repeat the entire thing but for a different party, you would say “Clause 4.2 applies, mutatis mutandis, to Party A. consensus ad idem – It means “meeting of minds” and is generally being considered as a prerequisite for a contract to be formed – that the parties to the contract had agreed on the essential terms and both are on the same page about what the agreement was. suppressio veri – suppression of the truth, subpoena- under penalty, nemo judex in sua causa- no one shall be a judge in his own case, etc. Further, the various writs which every High Court is empowered to issue to any person or authority under the Article 226 of The Constitution of India are of Latin in origin, to name a few, mandamus- we command, habeas corpus- you shall have the body, quo warranto- ‘ by what warrant’ and certiorari- ‘to be informed’.
Of late many Latin words are been used by the layman’s and are now part of the common English language, But lawyers have the distinction of still using the rarely used words/maxims of Latin origin in written and oral communication, day in and day out.
Rishesh Sikarwar is a practising advocate before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi.
