Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Legal Doublets

 A legal doublet is a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are near synonyms, usually connected by "and", and in standard orders, such as "cease and desist".

The doubling—and sometimes even tripling—often originates in the transition from use of one language for legal purposes to another: in Britain, from a native English term to a Latin or Law French term; in Romance-speaking countries, from Latin to the vernacular. To ensure understanding, the terms from both languages were used. This reflected the interactions between Germanic and Roman law following the decline of the Roman Empire. These phrases are often pleonasms and form irreversible binomials. It would be particularly unusual to ask someone to "desist and cease" or to protest a "seizure and search"; these common legal phrases are universally known as "cease and desist" and "search and seizure".


List of common legal doublets[edit]


No comments:

Post a Comment

Follyball