"Ignorantia Legis Non Excusat"

One of the main reasons why lawyers have long been revered as members of the 'professions' is their licence to confuse and confound the rest of humanity. This is a trait shared amongst their brethren across the globe and is largely founded on their enormous capacity to use legal-ease. The legal cognoscenti (there I go - it's catching) use this technique in order to make even the simplest process appear beyond the reach of geniuses let alone mere mortals. Their method is to combine long words that mean little, with Latin that means even less so that the rest of us are so impressed or dazed that we don't notice the amount on the bill!

As the language of one of the oldest professions, 'legal-ease' is based on long standing tradition and if you consider that, up until the 17th Century the language of the law was 'Lawfrench', a mixture of French, Latin and English, it is hardly surprising that it is confusing.

Another factor is that much of the law has developed organically as common law. This sort of law, which is often based on precedent (either customary or case law), started its life in the 12th century and is based on accepted customs or previous similar cases that become national law. In some cases, a local custom can be so unique to its geography that it has no relevance at national level, but still remains part of common law.

The second type of law in England is Statutory Law, which is often prescribed by Parliament. This includes laws that have been codified and have become imposed locally, regionally or nationally and are not necessarily based on local custom. However, some Statute Law can be based on common law where the basic Statute needs updating based on actual developments.

So that's the serious answer - tradition and history - but why is it all so confusing?

In truth, the legal systems still thinks it lives in the 17th century and if you say any different you'll probably get a mouthful of "aforementioneds", "my learned colleagues" and "Non est factums". Although I appear to be "playfully mocking" the system, the serious point is that the law is based on ancient traditions and although evolution is taking place, it will not happen overnight.

Unlike language in other parts of society, which seems to change on a daily basis, legal language will take longer to change. Although the actual use of Latin in daily legal life is now frowned upon in legal circles, it still makes the odd appearance amongst the musings of the legal profession.


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