英语文体学教程Chapter Nine

Legal language has the following characteristics:
1.Syntactic complexity(句法复杂性) As its main function is to ensure preciseness and accuracy, and block any leakage, the draftsmen of legal documents have to be very careful and scrupulous, and the legal texts have to be able to stand the test of time. Therefore legal language is rich in modifications, circumlocutions and complex logical relation.
Legal Documents
What is legal language?
Legal language is a general name for a variety which consist of many subcategories(子分类). In terms of genre(类型), it includes constitution, law, agreements, leases and guarantees, ect. In terms of field(范围), legal cases can be concerned with any field of activities. In terms of tenor(大意), it is designed for specialists, lawyers, judges, etc., not designed to serve the masses. In terms of mode(方式), it is often formal written language.

3.Conservativeness(保守性) As the legal language is produced by careful phrasing and tested over a long time, nobody dares to alter the structure of legal English, so that its structures become old-fashioned and archaic. The representative of legal language in such a way is English legal language.
Hale Waihona Puke Baidu
If they violate the rules and prescriptions, they will be punished in a certain way. Why? Because of its special social function, it will not only convey the meanings it has to convey, but also has to avoid any opaque(不透明的), ambiguous expression, and express everything clearly and completely. There is no room for implications and esthetic values.
Chapter Nine
9.1 Function and Style
What is the function of legal documents? Legal text are mainly used to ensure the security of a certain region or country, the harmony between people, and the normal working of the government. It is prescriptive and regulatory. Legal language prescribes how the government agencies, societies and individuals work and do things, their responsibilities, obligations and rights they have.


2.Redundancy(冗余性) In order to avoid opaqueness and ambiguity, it has to express clearly what everybody knows and takes for granted. This makes the legal language redundant, clumsy and hard to understand.