Lawyers’ Latin: A Vade Mecum

It is not often you will find me even attempting to consult a legal dictionary (the explanations tend to be even more obscure than the original terms), let alone recommending one for its interest and readability. So full marks to John Gray, author of this useful and highly diverting little reference book. His preface begins with a nice quotation from The Times – “Legal Latin outlawed pro bono publico” – and continues with an account of the official drive to rid the courts of Latin usages, on the alleged grounds of their incomprehensibility to modern citizens. There are two...