1

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF STUDY AND

RESEARCH IN LAW,RANCHI

ENGLISH PROJECT
Language and Law

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. GUNJAN DUBEY YASH SINGH
NARUKA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SEMESTER- I
ENGLISH SECTION- B
ROLL NO.- 1329
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DECLARATION
I, Yash Singh Naruka, a first semester BALLB student of National University of Study and
Research in Law, Ranchi, hereby declare that the project titled “Language and Law” under
the guidance of Dr. Gunjan Dubey Sir, faculty of English, is an original work. I have made
sincere efforts to complete this project and have not done any misrepresentation of fact or
data.

I declare that the statements made and the conclusions drawn are the bona fide outcome of
the research work. I further assert that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, proper
references have been given and does not contain any work that has been submitted in any
other university.

Yash Singh
Naruka
Semester- I
Roll Number-1329
NUSRL, Ranchi
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, Yash Singh Naruka Singh, would like to thank all of those who helped me during the whole
procedure of making this project and helped me in completing it successfully.
Firstly, I would like to thank my teacher and mentor Dr. Gunjan Dubey who showed faith in
me by providing such a wonderful topic. His constant guidance has played a vital role in
completion of this project successfully. His keen attention helped me to deal with each
problem that I faced during the making of this project. My heartfelt gratitude to all the staff
members and administrators of NUSRL for providing me with a wonderful library. Their
support cannot be expressed in words.
Finally, I would like to thank God for his benevolence and grace in enabling me to finish this
task. I express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, siblings, and friends who helped me to
complete this project without much problems.

Thanking you

Yash Singh
Naruka
BA LLB
Semester-I
Roll No. – 1329
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CONTENT
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Declaration……………………………………………………………………….………………………..02
Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………………………...03
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………..05
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………....………06
Why Language is necessary in the field of Law………………………………..……….07
English language and Law………………………………………………………………….….….07
Drawbacks of English language in the field of law……………………………..……..08
Legal Proceedings………………………………………………………………………………….….09
Legal Education…………………………………………………………………………………….….09
General Awareness ………………………………………………………………………….……….09
Indian Regional Languages & Law…………………………………………………….…….09
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….……………..11
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………….……….....12
Sources and Bibliography………………………………………………………………….……...13
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ABSTRACT
Language is the rule-based system of signs used for communication and it has a huge
significance in the field of law. Laws encoded in legal concepts are accessible only through
language. Administrators use language as a medium to formulate laws and laws should
accommodate goal of disagreements regarding the consequences of that utilization of
language. Some particular language is always required for the concept of law & justice to
work accordingly. And languages are efficiently utilised by the different members of the
fraternity of law like: a lawyer preparing a contract for parties, statements or confessions
made in front of a judge, giving legal notices, etc. Different nations apply different languages
to their personal jurisdiction which may vary as per their needs and discretion like: French,
Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and many more. English language has a special place
among all the languages around the world because of its huge base of speaker. It is used
throughout the Indian legal system.

We will move forward to analyse the significance of language in law and how English is so
important language in the field of law apart form other languages. All in all, I have gone
through numerous articles and books and some of them were very helpful (can be considered
a masterpiece), and I have tried to sum all of them up to give the reader a clear idea about the
topic. Credits are given to the appropriate owners wherever required. At the end of the
project, we will also conclude the findings and we will provide the literature review as well.
So, let’s get started-
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Introduction:
Famous ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle has famously said, “Man is a social animal; an
individual who is unsocial by naturally and accidently is either beneath our notice or more
than a human. Society is something that precedes the individual.” 1 When we are living in a
society, we tend to form close bonds with each other. So, to develop these kinds of bonds and
better understand each other, humans have subsequently developed different ways to
communicate with each other, express their vivid feelings and thoughts and socially involve
themselves with others. Some these methods to communicate were creating gestures, hand
signs, different kind of sounds, etc. At some point in the history, humans created ‘Language’
which can be understood by all in the society. Language has the quality to be expressed
‘orally’ and in ‘written’ form as well. With the wheel of time moving forward, different
languages have evolved subsequently in different parts of the world like: English, Hindi,
French, Japanese, Persian, Spanish, German, Korean, Tagalog and many more.

In current times, people are indulged in different professions according to their interests and
capability. Everyone needs to earn money to fill their stomachs and their families’ as well.
So, with cooperation of all the members, society has formed a very well-functioning
economic system where people are able to earn for them and their family. But for the
peaceful functioning of society as well as the economic system to go on, there arises the need
for something which is fair and square for all. So, the concept of ‘Law’ was devised where
every subject was under its ambit and it was fair & rational to everyone without anyone
getting any privilege. Law was necessary to be formed because there are some ill elements of
the society who tend to disturb the equilibrium of peace and create problems for others as
well. When law was not too much prevalent, many heinous crimes took place on daily basis
and the criminal roamed freely in open without any liability. Monarchs used their authority
arbitrarily on their subjects because there was no law to challenge their authority, Dictators
ordered mass genocide and escaped easily from any further consequences. But with the law
in force, no one is higher than the legal authority and everyone has to obey the law. With the
spread of the concepts of liberalism, equality and romanticism, the law has become much
empowered. Now justice is provided to everyone irrespective of their backgrounds. A

1
Hindu, The. “The Man as a Social Animal.” The Hindu, 12 Mar. 2012,
https://www.thehindu.com/features/education/research/man-as-a-social-animal/
article2988145.ece#:~:text=Aristotle%20the%20legendary%20Greek%20philosopher,something%20that
%20precedes%20the%20individual.%E2%80%9D&text=No%20man%20can%20break%20the%20shackles
%20of%20mutual%20dependence.
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commoner can challenge the government authority without being penalised of seditious
charges.
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Why Language is necessary in the field of Law?

Laws in essence tries to control human behaviour, mainly through a system of penalties for
law breaking. The law exists to decrease the rate of murder and theft, and malice in business
dealings among other crimes. There are two main aspects of the law- the legal code, and legal
processes.2 The legal code is not designed to cover a single instance of human behaviours in a
delimitated range of situations. The main issue is saying neither too much, and thus having a
rigid legal code, nor too little, and so licencing instances of behaviour that are unacceptable.
This is of course very much a problem of language which can be solved by the tactical use of
language. The usual objective of legal proceedings is to test the applicability of the
generalisations found in the legal codes to individual instances of behaviour or to particular
cases. There are nuanced differences which are managed through language, like trials are
linguistic events. Language is playing a central role in the law, and law is inconceivable
without language. Many lawyers boast with pride about their mastery in language and regards
such mastery as a critical assist for legal profession. Members of legal fraternity spend a large
part of their time in crafting, articulating and delivering end products which are made up of
words. Legal concepts are tactically made incomprehensible such that its difficult for
ordinary man to understand. Charles Alan Wright, a leading authority on legal procedures
and practice of law, said,

“The only tool of a lawyer is words. Whether we are trying a case, writing a brief,
drafting a contract, or negotiating with an adversary, words are the
only things we have to work with.”3

English Language & Law:

As we have discussed earlier, different jurisdictions apply different languages in their
respective legal systems. English is the most special language among all. Having a huge base
of 1.348 billion speakers, it stands the most spoken language around the globe 4. English is
known to be the widespread language used by individuals of every continent to convey and
decipher words, activities and sentiments on a worldwide scale. This language is taught in
2
Singh, Kartikey. “Language and Law” Legal Service India E-Journals.
3
Sagar, Jyoti. “Language and Law: An Incomprehensible Lawyer Part I.” Bar and Bench.
4
Author Unknown. “The Most Spoken Languages World Wide 2021” Statista,
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/
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most of the schools and colleges universally from pre-school, school and also on graduate
level. The greater part of laws, resolutions, rules and guidelines in different countries have
been written in English and veteran lawful experts utilize equivalent to method of
correspondence in court. Most law colleges require the learning of this particular language to
comprehend the statues, standards and fundamental significance of the law.

Initially English was not that much prevalent in the field of law, as it is today. The language
of law developed through waning and mixing of certain European languages and because of
their influence like- Celtic, Norman, Latin and French 5. Latin was the required language of
court proceedings a long time back as was French for a period. We can see their influence
still today in many of the legal phrases like- ad idem, ad infinitum, le droit, le jury and many
more. English was in the evolving stage and was acquiring words from other languages. Latin
and French were used by the elites and lawyers were the members of the elite class. Two
events can be attributed for such huge popularity of English language. First was the Industrial
revolution of 18th century which completely turned the economic scenario of Europe. England
became the most powerful economy in whole of Europe, overtaking previously richer nations
like France. With better technological advancement English traders became well off and
many new banks opened in London which became the economic capital of world of that time.
The need of new legal system arose in England and efficient lawyers from all over Europe
came forward to harness the opportunity. This led to the increasing of prominence of English
throughout Europe. The second reason was the colonising power of England. At some point
of time in history, British empire was so wide such that they were ruling the one-third of the
habitable land on earth. Now the colonies may have vanished but its legacy still runes
through the veins of the former subject countries. India as well as other Common Wealth
Nations6 still follow the English common law and uses English as the official language of the
legal system.

Drawbacks of English language in the legal

system:

5
Sagar, Jyoti. “Language and Law: An Incomprehensible Lawyer Part II.” Bar and Bench.
6
It is a political association of 54 member states, almost all of which are former territories of British empire.
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In spite of all the success and benefits of English language, there are certain short comings of
its application as the sole language for legal field. Some of them are as follows:

1. Legal Proceedings: The jury makes its decision on the basis of whose version of
story is most convincing in terms of completeness, consistency and credibility. If the
witness comes from a different language speaking background, their story telling may
produce confusion and lead the hearers to assume that the story is illogical. This may
directly affect the fair justice procedure and will cause suffering to the society.
2. Legal Education: In many countries where English language is necessary to study
law, a class of aspiring students are unable to pursue law because of their inability to
comprehend texts of English language. In India many students are their who want to
pursue law career but they are not allowed because of their Hindi or any other
regional language background.
3. General Awareness: Our legal system mostly works through English medium and its
difficult for the common masses to understand it completely. Many new guidelines
and rulings are formed on daily basis by the government and different courts. Even if
local language newspapers and forecasters are available to translate these things, there
always remains some legal phrases or particular concepts whose translation is not
possible. This decreases the general awareness of the non-English people and putting
them in a backfooting.

Indian Regional Languages & Law:

Law in India evolved from customary practices and religious prescription to the modern
codified law based on a basic constitution. The classical Hindu law was a peculiar legal
system as it followed a unique arrangement and polity with unique scheme of values. Look at
the sources of ancient legal codes like- Sruti, Smriti and Acharas (customs). These
inscriptions were mostly written in the most fabulous language of all i.e., Sanskrit. Sanskrit is
the sacred language of Hinduism; it is a classical language of south- Asia belonging to the
Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European languages7. It is famously known as “mother of all
languages”. The Dharmasutra, Manusmriti, Vedas, Upanishads and Purans were some of the

7
Cardona, George. “Sanskrit Language.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language
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legal texts which were written in Sanskrit and were often used by ancient rulers in their day-
to-day working.

Apart from Hinduism there were other prominent religion also like Buddhism and Jainism.
The Buddhist scriptures of law known as Patakas, were written in the Pali language and of
Jainism was written in the Prakrit language.

In the medieval period Muslim invaders arrived at the Indian sub-continent. They brought
their native culture and traditions here. Originally Muslims were Persian speaking people.
Their scholars wrote in their particular language and the formal proceedings of the Muslim
royal courts was held in Persian. With time, the local culture was there on the old language
and a mixed version of Hindi and Persian was formed i.e., Urdu. The writing script remained
constant but the dialect was changed significantly. Mughal rulers like Akbar, Jahangir,
Shahjahan, etc. administered their Hindu and Muslim subjects under the same Urdu language.
However, laws were still codified in the traditional Persian language only.

If you look at current legal system in India, you will find that Uniform Civil Code is not
applicable throughout the nation. However, it is mentioned in the Article 44 8 of the Indian
constitution but is only followed in the state of Goa. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains are
collectively governed under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Muslims, Christians and Parsis
are governed under their personal laws. Even these legislations are codified in English
language most of them from the British Colonial era, they still contain a lot of phrases and
words of the regional Indian languages. It was necessary to incorporate these words and
phrases because to provide subjective clarity to the readers. Like you will find words like
‘sapinda’ (of same lineage) from Sanskrit in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955;
‘marumakkattayam law’ (a law which is appliable on people belonging to some particular
communities of Tamil Nadu) from Tamil in Hindu Succession Act, 1956. You will also find
judges in their rulings citing the concepts and phrases from ancient religious texts like A
bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Markandeya Katju quoted a text from Bhagavat Gita
that death is preferable to honour, while providing relief to an accused detained by police
without sufficient evidence9.

8
“The Constitution of India,” part IV, art. 44
9
India, Team Outlook. “SC Quotes Bhagavad Geeta to Give Relief to Accused.”
Https://Www.Outlookindia.Com/, 13 Nov. 2008, https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/amp/sc-quotes-
bhagavad-geeta-to-give-relief-to-accused/632757
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Conclusion:
With the formation of language, people were able to understand each other better. They
started forming close familial ties with common traditions. Everyone wanted the security of
their family and to maintain the peace, the concept of law was devised. Language became an
integral part of legal system. It consistently helped in improving law from time to time by
weeding out the emergent flaws. Legal texts were codified in different languages from the
time of monarchs to the time the time of 20th century dictators like Stalin and Zedong. Laws
are still being formulated consistently by legal throughout the globe. These lawyers are well-
versed in their particular language such that they are able to perform their tasks efficiently.
English has outperformed all other languages in the field of law. It is one of the six official
languages of United Nations (UN), one of the two official language of International Court of
Justice (ICJ) and many other organizations/institutions of international level. But with such
mass applicability, some drawbacks have evidently evolved. Solution of these problems
should be devised by the legal fraternity itself for the benefit of society as whole. We can use
the concept of multiple official languages as UN and ICJ have applied in their jurisdiction.
Regional languages can also be replaced where there is need and possibility of its substitution
with English. Law schools should be encouraged to inculcate multiple languages in their
programmes and students should be given the opportunity to choose any of the language he is
willing to study. This would subsequently increase the variety of students in the profession,
aspiring students would get the opportunity to study law without any language constraint and
would automatically resolve the general awareness of the society as well.
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Literature Review

1. Language and Law: this book is edited by John Gibbons. It explains and describes
the use of language in legal system. This book helps us in understanding why
language is important in the field of law. Each section of this book is preceded by
an introduction by the editor which sets the chapter in a conceptual framework.

2. Author- Kartikey Singh, Language and Law: the author provides a comprehensive
framework to provide knowledge on the topic “Language and Law”. Since it is
written by an Indian author it was also helpful in understanding the situations and
problems in Indian legal system. Simple and clear language has been used by
throughout the article, while explaining all the points brilliantly. This article can
be classified as a masterpiece.

3. Author- Jyoti Sagar, Language and Law: The Incomprehensible Lawyer part I&II:
this article has been divided in two parts. The first part helps us in understanding
how a lawyer tactically manipulates with the language to make incomprehensible
for a normal reader. And the part II gives information regarding the history of
legal languages in Europe and how English became such a popular language in the
field of law and the chronology behind it. I am personally thankful to the author
because he has made these points easier for me to interpret and apply them in my
research paper.
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Sources and Bibliography

1. https://www.barandbench.com/columns/language-law-incomprehensible-lawyer-part-
ii (last visited November 13, 2021)
2. https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-5288-language-law.html (last visited
November 13, 2021)
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanskrit-language (last visited November 14, 2021)
4. https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-uniform-civil-code ( last visited
November 14, 2021)