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 comments on that proposition. The first is that legal English is itself often incomprehensible, and far less elegant than the Latin that would be replaced. The second is that the problem would not exist if Latin were still taught in our schools, and those so taught would derive an enormously greater benefit than merely understanding certain legal phrases. For once, perhaps European integration will come to our aid: what better established lingua franca exists? Are we going to replace “alibi” and “alias” (or “fac simile”)? Such arguments are made effectively (he is a barrister) by the author, and supported pithily and tellingly by Lord Deedes in his foreword.
So, in its supposedly dying phase, legal Latin is here defined. “Supposedly” dying because the legal profession is not noted for its willingness to abandon old ways, especially when they work so effectively and have done so for many hundreds of years, despite an apparent army of informers to ensure compliance in the courts: shades of Orwell. From A bove majori discit arare minor to Volenti non fit injuria, all the Latin expressions likely to be come across in legal practice are translated and explained. Some entries have simple self‐explanatory translations and nothing more, while the explanations for others are often fairly lengthy, complete with quotations from legal proceedings, in order to expand a basic concept thus expressed; and that comment too has implications for the replacement of Latin by English – a single elegant comprehensible phrase or several paragraphs of English jargon? Historical reference is made and, where phrases derive from literature or ancient history (Jacta alea est back to Caesar at the Rubicon) this is indicated. References are also made to statutes and legal proceedings where this is necessary to establish the meaning or validity of a particular expression.
Aimed specifically at legal practitioners, especially those too young to have learned or absorbed much or any Latin, this is a vade‐mecum with far wider application. More than just law collections will find it a useful and popular acquisition. There has to be an irony in that it actually explains many legal concepts in terms, which the rest of us can readily understand, although starting from a supposedly “dead” language. It can be consulted, or even read, with profit by many and with enjoyment by many more. There is nothing like language disputes to inflame passions: in what other context nowadays would one find the fascinating concept of “renegade judges”? Latin may not be “new” and may not be cool enough for modern authoritarian tastes, but it works and has worked for centuries in a range of applications from biology to the law. Another useful step would be to get the concept of Latin through to software engineers and remove the red underlining decorating this review on my screen. Still, a course has been set in the name of modernity so fiat justitia ruat caelum. Or, if you want to express how up to date you are, remember that lex prospicit non respicit.
