Law French: An Introduction for Lawyers, Law Librarians, and Law Students Introduction 31 Canadian Law Library Review 2006

31 Can. L. Libr. Rev. 192 (2006)
Law French: An Introduction for Lawyers, Law Librarians, and Law Students

handle is hein.journals/callb31 and id is 192 raw text is: LAW FRENCH: AN INTRODUCTION FOR LAWYERS, LAW
LIBRARIANS, AND LAW STUDENTS*
by Shannon McSheffrey*

Sommaire
Cet article analyse l'influence du frangais sur le lan-
gage employs par la o common law >>. I1 commence par
retra~er le d~veloppement de cette influence selon un
point de vue historique ayant comme point de depart la
Bataille d'Hastings de 1066. Par la suite, on s'int6resse a
la presence du franfais dans le vocabulaire juridique et la
grammaire anglaise.
t has been argued that it is impossible to fully appreciate
the nature of legal language without knowing something
about its history,' and indeed the nature of legal language
in a law of words12 is crucial: words are the tools of preci-
sion in the domain of law. The history of much of the legal
language in the common law tradition may be traced back
to 1066, the year in which William of Normandy conquered
the Anglo-Saxon forces at the Battle of Hastings, forever
altering the development of English society, culture and
language. The language which developed in the aftermath
of the conquest came to be known as Anglo-French, a blend
of Old English and Continental French which survived as a
living language for centuries. Over time, Anglo-French died
out as a spoken tongue and was replaced by Middle English,
but its influence continued well beyond its death in what is
now known simply as law French. In order to appreciate the
origins and development of the English language in general,
and of the language of the law in English more specifically,
one must explore both the events which preceded that 1066
battle, and also its aftermath. Only then will it be possible
to understand the presence of law French in contemporary
legal language.
In AD 911, King Charles the Simple of France signed
a treaty with the Scandinavian invader-chief Rollo, which
conferred upon the invader's people, the Northmen, a con-
siderable piece of land. Very quickly, these Normans became
speakers of French, and established a hereditary dynasty of

Dukes, the seventh of which was William the Bastard, Duke
of Normandy.3
Across the English Channel, King Ethelred the Unready
ascended the throne as a child-heir in 978 upon the untimely
assassination of his older brother King Edmund the Martyr.
Ethelred's reign was riddled with attacks by Danish invaders,
culminating in the 1013 attack by King Swein of Denmark
which forced Ethelred and his Norman wife Emma to flee to
her homeland for protection. When his half brother Harthac-
nut died suddenly at a wedding feast in 1042, Edward, son of
Ethelred and Emma was immediately acclaimed.4
King Edward the Confessor had lived in Normandy for
twenty-five years by the time of his coronation, having crossed
the Channel in exile at the age of twelve. He had no knowl-
edge of England, no established supporters, and preferred to
speak French. Quite simply, he had not been expected to
inherit the throne of England, and his reign was challenged
by various contenders over the years.5 In an effort to protect
his throne from the possibility of a Norwegian usurper, and
as it became clear over time that Edward would not have a
son to succeed him, he promised the throne to William of
Normandy in 105 1.6 By the eve of the conquest in 1066,
England was well-governed and relatively prosperous, and
was developing a sense of national unity. Edward died a long
death in January of 1066, and Harold, the over-mighty Earl
of Wessex, who had ruled England alongside Edward due to
his power over southern England, claimed that Edward had
designated him heir to the throne in his dying words.7
Duke William of Normandy might have forgotten Ed-
ward's promise of 1051, considering both the length of time
which had elapsed, and also his knowledge of the return to
England of another lost line of the royal family. However, an
event from 1064 or 1065 which is chronicled only in Norman
sources allowed William to claim priority over King Harold
II. In that version of events, Harold, while still only the Earl
ofWessex, was intercepted on the Continent and delivered to
Duke William by one of his vassals. Harold thereafter took
a public oath that William was the rightful ruler of England,

* © Shannon McSheffrey 2006.
Shannon McSheffrey holds a B.A. in history from the University of Western Ontario, and is a student in the University of Toronto's Master of
Information Studies program. She wishes to thank her law librarianship professor, John Papadopoulos, for his encouragement with this paper.
Peter M. Tiersma, Legal Language (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999) at 7.
2 Ibid. at 1.
3 Charles Dunmore, Studies in Etymology (Newburyport, MA: Focus Books, 1993) at 18.
4 C. Warren Hollister, Robert C. Stacey & Robin Chapman Stacey, 7he Making of England to 1399, 8t' ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001) at
108-114.
5 Ibid. at 115.
6 Ibid. at 116.
7 Ibid. at 117-118.
192 2006 Canadian Law Library Review/Revue canadienne des biblioth~ques de droit, Wllume/Tome 3 1, No. 4

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