E-Book Overview
If you're just starting law school, you'll soon find out that lawyers like to use old latin phrases. If you don't have a guide to the confusing terminology, you'll quickly get lost in terms like "replevin," "seisin," "habeus corpus," and similar phrases.
Even if you've been practicing law for many years, this book is a must-have reference tool. You'll be able to quickly understand what opposing counsel is trying to say in their briefs and motions. You'll be able to make better sense of the old cases you read.
Latin For Lawyers will prove to be the reference tool that will help you through law school and throughout your professional career.
The author, Lazar Emanuel, has had a distinguished career in law. A graduate of Harvard Law School, his resume includes founding partner of Cowan, Liebowitz & Emanuel (now Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman), president of Communication Industries, a multi-station radio and television company, and executive vice-president and general counsel of Emanuel Law Outlines, Inc. Oh, by the way, he's Steve Emanuel's father, too, which should speak volumes.
E-Book Content
LATIN FOR LAWYERS The Language of the Law By LAZAR EMANUEL J.D., Harvard Law School Published by Latin For Lawyers, 1st Edition (1999) Emanuel Publishing Corp. • 1328 Boston Post Road • Larchmont, NY 10538 Copyright © 1999 by LAZAR EMANUEL _____________________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. This book is not intended as a source of advice for the solution of legal matters or problems. For advice on legal matters, the reader should consult an attorney. ISBN 1-56542-499-9 PREFACE I have tried in this book to do several things. y To identify those words, phrases and axioms which still find their way in their original Latin into legal study and writing. y To identify all words and phrases in current English used by lawyers and derived from Latin y To trace the origin of the words and phrases by identifying and defining their Latin roots. y To define each entry in every sense in which it has meaning for lawyers. y To list in each definition appropriate references to such documents as the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and other documents of concern to lawyers. My hope is that law students and lawyers will find this a useful tool for studying the origin, development and meaning of all legal words and terms which can be traced to Latin. In my work in this book, I have been struck especially by the many different meanings which are ascribed by lawyers to some words of Latin origin. These differences reflect linguistic nuances which are important and interesting. I have tried to express these nuances simply and clearly. I have also been struck by the enormous debt we owe to a language which is no longer spoken but which still dominates the language of lawyers. Lazar Emanuel Larchmont, New York 1999 AB [L. motion away from a fixed point] From, away from. AB AETERNO [L. ab + aeternus / eternal, everlasting] From eternity; eternally. AB ANTE [L. ab + ante / before] In advance of; beforehand. ABDUCT [L. ab + duco, ducere / to lead from; to lead away] To carry a person off by force; to kidnap; to take a child from its parents or a wife from her home by force. AB INITIO [L. ab + initium / the beginning] From the beginning. Used generally to indicate that a document or an event — e.g., a contract, statute, deed, marriage, etc.