Legal English

SYLLABLES OF A SINGLE WORD

BUT if the punctuation mark is longer we have DASH ( – )

( / ) slash

(.) dot (.com)

FORMAL LETTER:

Dear Mr Jones,

I am writing to enquire about your language courses in the summer. I am

a university student studying to become a translator.

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I would like to know whether your school offers courses specifically for

university level students as I would like to study techniques for essay

writing in English. Could you also tell me how many hours of lessons

there are per week?

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With regards to accommodation, are there different possible alternatives? I

feel I would

prefer to stay in shared accommodation with self-catering facilities.

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Finally, I was wondering if any extra-curricular activities such as

lectures or excursions are offered at your school. If so, are these

included in the price, or at an additional cost?

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I would be grateful for any information you can give me and I look

forward to hearing from you soon

Yours sincerely,

Jaana Nikkinen

BUSINESS LETTER:

Note that there are some differences in style between letters written in

American English and British English. For example, the way of writing

dates is different (the order is day, month, year in Britain, eg 1/2/2002 or

1 Feb 2002 or 1st February 2002; month, day, year in the US, eg

2/1/2002 or Feb 1 2002 or February 1st 2002.

At the top of the letter, write your address (using English letters) on the

right hand side. You do not need to put your name at the top of this

address, because it will already be written at the bottom of the letter .As

well as your postal address, you may want to include your telephone or

fax number (if you are not in the same country as the person to whom

you are writing, you should use the international way of writing this,

including the country code. You may also want to include your e-mail

address.

Write the full name and address of the person to whom you are writing

on the top left hand side of the letter. On the right hand side,

underneath your own address, write the date on which you wrote the

letter. To avoid any possible confusion, it may be better to write the

address in full (for example: 1st February 2002).

In Britain, when you do not know the name of the person to whom you

are writing (or if you know the name but you want to write in a very

formal style), you normally start a business letter with the words "Dear

Sir". "Sir" is a word for a man, but it is understood that it is just a

convention to use this and that the letter may be read by either a man or

a woman. You can write "Dear Sir/Madam" instead if you prefer, but it is

not common to write "Dear Madam" unless you are certain that the letter

will be read by a woman. You should end the letter with "Yours faithfully"

("Faithfully yours" is only used in American English).

Note that you shouldn't add a full stop at the end of abbreviated words if

the last letter of the abbreviation is the same as the last letter of the full

word. For example, you should write Mr Smith (short for Mister) or Dr

Smith (short for Doctor), but Prof. Smith (short for Professor) - there is a

full stop in the last example because "f" is not the last letter of the word

"professor".

When you start the letter, you may want to put a special heading to

make the subject of the letter clear, especially if your letter is quite long.

It is common to start with "Re: " ("re" introduces the subject: it means

"about") and then give a one-line summary of the subject (for example:

"Re: application for place on Business English course"). You should

mention the last letter you have received, including the date written on

the letter and the reference number if there is one (for example: "Thank

you for your letter of 2nd February, reference MC/0275"). If you are

sending some documents with your letter, you should mention this (for

example: "Please find enclosed my completed application form", or

"Please find attached a copy of my CV"), and you should write "Enc:"

and a list of these documents at the bottom of the page (after your

signature).

it is better to sign the letter personally as well as typing your name

underneath. Your signature proves that you wrote the letter, and also

makes it a little bit more personal. You can sign using your own

language, but do remember to write your name clearly underneath your

signature using English letters.

A less formal ending would be just "Yours", or something like "Regards"

or "Best wishes". As a signature, it is common just to type your name.

Formal letter of application:

• Dear Sir / Madam

• I am writing to apply for …….

• End:

• I look forward to hearing from you Yours faithfully

Formal business correspondence:

(for example: letter of enquiry)

• Dear Mr Smith (Dear Ms Smith)

• I am writing to enquire about your prices

• End:

• An early reply would be appreciated / I look forward to hearing

from you at your earliest convenience.

• Yours sincerely

Formal letter of reference:

• To whom it may concern

• I write with reference to Ms Smith…

• End

• Yours faithfully

Business email – friendly:

• Dear (+ first name)

• Just a quick note to remind you about

• End

• Best wishes / Kind regards

In-company email request:

• (no salutation)

• Could you…….

• End

• Thanks / Cheers

CC, BCC:

Cc: stands for ‘carbon copy’ and Bcc: stands for ‘Blind carbon copy’. In

email, the Cc: command is straightforward enough, as it says ‘send a

copy of the message to an address other than the main recipient’ (the

address that you place in the To: field).

P.S: Bcc = Blind Carbon Copy è l'equivalente inglese dell'italiano

CcnCcn = Copia Carbone Nascosta (serve a mandare copia dell'e-mail

a terzi in modo da non renderla visibile a tutti gli altri destinatari).

How to write a fax:

To[name of receiver] Attention: [who do you want to read

this]

From:[name of sender] Subject:

Date:[1 October 2004] page(s):

Content a fax:

Faxes are less formal than letters. Formal salutations (Dear Sir, Dear

Ms.………)and endings (Yours sincerely,………)are often not used.

Instead, common endings in faxes are Best wishes; Kind regards or

Regards.

Faxes are generally more direct than formal letters, but nevertheless –

be polite.

[Regards

Sample:fax

To: Buy everything! Attention: Sales Department

From: Manuela Berthold Subject: walking sticks

Date: 1 October 2004 page(s):1

I would like to buy 20 walking sticks at your shop. Please reserve them

for me and I will come to collect them Monday next week, on 4 October.

If there are any problems, please let me know.

Kind regards

Manuela Berthold History

• The citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians, the

elite class who ruled Roman society, and plebeians, the common

people.

• One element of the patricians' elite status was that a group of

patrician men called pontiffs were the ones who made decisions

and ruled in questions of customary law. Over time, plebeians

came to see the disparity between their positions and the pontiffs

one.

• The plebeians pressed for the law to be written down , so that they

might better anticipate the decisions made by the patrician

pontiffs and understand their basis in the established law.

The Roman Legal Sytem:

Long before the Roman Republic was established in 509 BC, the

early Romans lived by laws developed through centuries of

custom. This customary law (ius , in Latin) was handed down

through generations and was considered by the Romans to be an

inherited aspect of their society as it had evolved from its earliest

days.

The Twelve Tables:

The Twelve Tables, documented the centuries- old customary laws and

became the foundation of Roman law as we know it. The Twelve Tables

touched on many areas of law, not only the civil law that applied directly

to citizens, but also areas such as public law and religious law, which

applied to larger social constructs and institutions

The Twelve Tables did not rewrite existing law or create new law.

Rather, they simply transferred established customary law (ius) to a

written form (lex).

While the Twelve Tables were destroyed during the Celtic invasions of

the fourth century BC, their legacy was very strong and much of their

content remained known- For example Cicero (106–43 BC) the great

statesman, jurist and orator of the late Republic, wrote that he was

made to memorize and recite their provisions as a student.

Evolution of the Roman Legal System and

Classical Roman Law:

As the Roman republic grew and then transformed into an empire, its

rulers faced the increasing challenge of governing an evermore diverse

populations.

IUS GENTIUM/ IUS NATURAL:

This led to the development of the ius gentium ("law of nations") and ius

naturale ("natural law"). The ius gentium, or law of nations/peoples, was

the body of laws that applied to all people, foreigners and non-citizens

as well as citizens, and was based upon the common principles and

reasoning that civilized societies and humankind were understood to live

by and share. These laws common to all people were further understood

to be rooted in the ius naturale, or natural law, a category of law based

on the principles shared by all living creatures, humans as well as

animals.

Emperor Justinian and the Corpus iuris

civilis:

One of the ways that Justinian I sought to unify the empire was through

law. Roman citizenship had been extended to the empire outside of

Italy in the third century, making inhabitants far and wide "citizens of

Rome" and subject to its civil law.

Justinian's Code:

He formed a commission of jurists to compile all existing Roman law

into one body: THE JUSTINIAN’S CODE

CORPUS IURIS CIVILIS:

The compilation of Justinian is widely considered to be the emperor's

greatest contribution to the history of Western society. Though largely

forgotten for several centuries after the fall of the Western Empire,

Roman law experienced a revival that began at the University of

Bologna, Italy, in the eleventh