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Lucía Pérez Guillén
ACTIVITY: 15th-century Latinized legal English
1. Explain the role of Latin in education up to the end of the 15th century.
In the 15th century, the role of Latin in education was defined by constituting the
foundations of the curriculum in grammar schools, where future scribes started studying
Latin spelling, morphology, and syntax. But in this century Latin reached its lowest point,
revealing its decline in English schools, since from the end of the 14 th century it had stopped
being the language of class management, and was substituted for English. When lacking
enough level of Latin, students would complement their education at universities or
institutions responsible for the training of bureaucrats and administrators. In these, the type
of Latin studied depended on the type of institution. While at universities, students
progressed with the notions introduced in the grammar schools, and in other educational
centers, this was replaced by the technique of composition of letters, documents, and the
study of legal formulae.
2. Explain what is meant by the expression "explicit presence of Latin".

“Explicit Presence of Latin” refers to any expression coming from Latin and written in this
language, it can be a word, a phrase, or a specific part of the document, which the reader
can clearly identify in the text, because of their visible use. In contrast to other linguistic
forms, such as grammatical structures, that cannot be recognized in the same
straightforward manner as the words taken from Latin.
3. Give examples of the "explicit presence of Latin" in English legal deeds taken from the
article and explain them.
‘First it is to wete of his counsell whethir it is til pursew ad diem clausit extremum in
lincolnschire ...’ (1:33)
The first example shows a prepositional phrase in Latin, complementing the main clause
that is written in English. This illustrates the clear-cut influence of Latin in English and how
both languages were used in the same sentences,
‘þe lang þa' þe' pursuit is delayet the more hynderance is in þe recouerer quia mora trahit
periculum’. (1:56)
This example shows a subordinate clause written in Latin, which is embedded in a main
sentence written in English. Again, this evidences how Latin was used together with English,
being used in simple or complex sentences, in just one word, or bigger units of language.
3. Give an account of the co-existence of Latin and English in obligations and conditions
trying to explain the use of Latin in the obligations and the shift to English in the conditions.
The co-existence of Latin and English is illustrated in the type of document that shows
obligations and conditions. First, the part including the obligations was fully written in Latin,
and, in this part, one of the parties of the issue agreed to pay an amount of money, at a
certain moment, to the other party unless he fulfilled certain requirements. After this part,
the document switched to English, to explain the conditions regarding the previously-
mentioned obligations.
The switch from one language to the other can be explained as the result of the lack of the
level of Latin necessary to compose this type of text. Scribes could copy a model of the
obligations part, as it was a form in which the date, the amount of money borrowed and the
name of the parties were to be filled in certain gaps. This could be written by any scribe with
a basic knowledge of Latin. On the other side, what was said in the conditions could vary,
this would make this part more difficult to produce. Therefore, this change has practical and
functional causes, since English was the language both the scribe and the debtor understood
better, which is essential in this type of document related to payments and debts.
5. What is implied by the expression "implicit presence of Latin"?

“Implicit presence of Latin” means the use of Latin forms that are not words or expressions
of the language itself, like some constructions of Latin that were adapted into English. In
these, the sentence is completely written in English, but with the use of this Latin formulae.
Its presence is still there, even though it is not as apparent as the use of Latin words and
expressions.
6. Give at least two examples of the implicit presence of Latin taken from the article and
explain them.
The first example of the implicit presence of Latin is ‘all fraude and gile away putt’. This
extract shows the use of the absolute nominative, which imitates the Latin absolute
ablative, equivalent to a subordinate adverbial clause, and that appears in texts that are
categorised as curial prose. It illustrates the adaptation of Latin linguistic elements that
retain the presence of Latin in the English language.
The second example ‘Paiand to ye saed X & to yar heres & yar assignes xl s of lel mone of
Igland at ye festes of ... & at ye fest of ... be euenly poccions’ shows an English formula
describing financial arrangements, which is a literal translation of the Latin one ‘Reddendo
inde annuatim mihi et heredibus vel assignatis meis ... ad ... anni terminos per equales
portiones’. This illustrates how Latin was still used as a language of reference, on which the
scribes relied when writing legal texts, and whose influence was always present.
7. Do you think present-day English legal language is still conditioned in any way by Latin? In
which sense? Give examples from contemporary legal texts. In order to do so, explore the
web and find examples of legal texts (contracts, wills, etc.) to illustrate your answer
(remember to quote the sources). You can include a caption / captions of the text(s). Be
aware that examples taken from texts on law or extracted from legal handbooks or on legal
language will not be accepted.
The influence and presence of Latin in legal language reaches to our days, and countless
texts in this field prove the use of terminology in this language, as well as the exclusive use
of some of its expressions that have become a distinctive mark for legal discourses. Some
examples of this still-existing relation between Latin and the legal can be highlighted in
judgments:
1. ‘Did works which were not construction operations for the purposes of section 105 of the
1996 Act form more than a de minimis part of the works in respect of which the Decision
was made such that the Decision is unenforceable?’ (Crystal Electronics Limited v Digital
Mobile Spectrum Limited 3)
2. ‘A claimant who seeks to enforce an adjudication award must satisfy the court that all
matters included in the award (save for what can properly be considered de
minimis matters) were “construction operations” within section 105(1) or were matters
within section 104(2) in relation to construction operations: ibid.’ (Crystal Electronics
Limited v Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited 5)
In the first extract, we find the expression de minimis, meaning it is not relevant or
important enough for the law to consider it. On the other side, the second example includes
the word ibid, which is used in citations to refer to previous sources.
These examples, taken from the same judgment, illustrate the several references to Latin
one can find when reading a text of this nature, and the requirement of specific notions
both of the field or the language that are needed to make the correct use of them as well as
understand them.
References
High Court of England and Wales, Crystal Electronics Limited v Digital Mobile Spectrum
Limited, 103-105, The National Archives, 2023.

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Lucía Pérez Guillén

ACTIVITY: 15th-century Latinized legal English

2. Explain what is meant by the expression "explicit presence of Latin".

5. What is implied by the expression "implicit presence of Latin"?

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