Lawyers' Latin - John Gray

Latin in the language of English law is to disappear. Moving forces in the legal establishment have decreed it. Why then a new vade-mecum? Latin is learnt by few in school and young lawyers with minimal knowledge of the language will be in tenebris as they continue to meet it in old reported cases, academic articles, statutes and in decisions of EEC institutions and even falling from the lips of renegade judges. When Latin brings progress and comprehension to a halt, what then? Reach for Lawyers' Latin. This is an invaluable reference book of law-related Latin. Professional and comprehensive, yet lighthearted, it is immensely readable. All those interested in Latin may like to dip in to discover such particularly succinct phrases as uberrimae fidei (of the utmost (good) faith), doli capax (capable, legally, of wrong or fraud) or mala fide (in bad faith). They might conclude that legal Latin is useful, pragmatic and interesting and that it should not have obloquy heaped upon it.