What is Latinese?

This blog is the result of attending law school with no formal background in Latin. During my first year (and even after that), I occasionally found myself searching the Internet and Latin dictionaries in an attempt to piece together phrases in order to understand cases. Black's only had the most basic information and, honestly, the Latin phrases included were usually defined by a professor in class or already ingrained due to television's fascination with lawyers.

Now, this would probably mean I support the movement to eliminate Latin from the modern American legal industry. Quite the contrary: I think Latin is an important part of not only legal history but also the modern legal world. Part of that is admittedly because I am somewhat of a snob, and stare decisis just sounds better than "we already decided that." (To that end, I think the focus needs to instead be on writing in a clear, concise manner rather than on eliminating a dead language. For a good discussion on that subject, check out Richard Wydick's Plain English for Lawyers, which practices what it preaches in being concise and to the point. For the diehard among you, I suggest Clarity or PLAIN.)

Let's get to what matters. This is a blog about Latin and the law. Each entry will give a Latin word, its definition, and some brief history or interesting fact. I may even throw in some cases. I am open to suggestions, will try to post at least once a week, and am in no way, shape, or form an expert on Latin (or the law for that matter). I will cite where I got my information from and in no way claim to be creating anything other than a central repository. My hope is to make Latin easier for future law school students whose parents also encouraged a practical approach to foreign language classes and suggested Spanish rather than "that dead language." And, no, I'm not particularly fluent in Spanish either.

Great. But what is Latinese?

The simple definition: Latin + Legalese = Latinese.

Yeah, but what's legalese?

According to the Oxford American Dictionary, legalese is a colloquial noun and the "technical language of legal documents." According to Merriam-Webster, it is "the specialized language of the legal profession." A synonym would likely be lawyerisms.

From a cynical perspective, legalese is a way for lawyers to be overly technical and write in a way that makes it extremely difficult for most non-lawyers to understand. This is good for lawyers as it means more money since their services are required for translation. From a less cynical perspective, it is a style of writing that reduces vagueness and misinterpretation by covering all possible outcomes.

For a more in-depth, fully factual treatment, check out the Wikipedia entry on legal writing. For Hollywood's perspective on it, check out the 1998 film starring Richard Garner and Mary-Louise Parker.

Latinese, in my world, is a subset of legalese. It is any Latin phrase that has become part of the legal lexicon and is usually distorted in varying degrees from its original meaning in "regular" Latin. Unlike some of legalese, however, it usually serves a purpose beyond just being complex and confusing for non-lawyers and law students alike.

And that is Latinese. Welcome and get ready for an exciting trip through legal Latin.