Get acquainted with terminologies used frequently in legal jargon

Amit Bavishi , Last updated: 07 July 2015
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Many of our readers are students, pursing Professional courses, like CA, CS, CMA, etc., aiming to be a great professional in their life. While going through the studies most of us find hard to understand the meaning of some terms, words and/ or expressions, due to their origin in different languages.This piece of writing is my deliberate attempt to make you aware of such terms, words, and/or expressions, with an aim to help you, during your studies.

English has borrowed generously from other languages, mostly from Latin, Greek, French and German. Many of the borrowed terms, words and/or expressions have been anglicized and today are an integral in English vocabulary in their original or modified form e.g., restaurant, rapport, viva voce, etc…

Jargon means language that is special to science, technology, art, or profession. There is for instance legal jargon, military jargon and political jargon.

These terms, words and/or expressions are liberally used in English and yet continue to return their foreign flavors. The expressions given below are of technical nature pertaining to law, philosophy, politics and ‘officialdom’.

WORDS	LANGUAGE OF ORIGIN	MEANING
ab initio	Latin	from the beginning
ab origin	Latin	from the origin
ad libitum	Latin	speak or perform in public without advance preparation
ad valorem	Latin	according to the value
ad hoc	Latin	a body elected or appointed for a particular work
ad infinitum	Latin	to infinity, endlessly, forever
a la carte	French	according to the card/list
a la mode	French	according to the fashion
amende honorable	French	a public apology
Apropos	Latin	with reference to
au fait	French	expert, having detailed knowledge
au revoir	French	until we meet again
avant-propos	French	preliminary matter, preface
avant-garde	French	new, unusual or experimental
bête noire	French	a special aversion
bona fide	Latin	good faith
Bizarre	French	strange unknown
bon voyage	French	have a good journey
casus belli	Latin	that which causes or justifies war
chef d’ oeuvre	French	masterpiece
Circa	Latin	approximately
Confere	French	colleague
Contretemps	French	a minor dispute or disagreement
corrigenda	Latin	a thing to be corrected (in a book)
coup d’etat	French	violent change in government
coup de grace	French	a finishing stroke
cul-de-sac	French	a blind valley
de facto	Latin	actual or in fact
de jure	Latin	from the law, by right
de novo	Latin	anew, again
dernier resort	French	last resort
Elite	Latin	the best part, the pick
entrepreneur	French	a person who sets up business taking greater financial risk
en masse	French	all together
en rapport	French	in harmony
Errata	Latin	list of errors
esprit de corps	French	the animating spirit of a particular group like a regiment
et cetera	Latin	and the rest
Eureka	Greek	i have found it
exempli gratia	Latin	for example
ex post facto	Latin	with retrospective action or force
faux pas	French	a social blunder
hoi polloi	Greek	the common people
id est	Latin	that is more precisely
Impasse	French	a deadlock
in extensor	Latin	in full
in memorium	Latin	in memory of
in toto	Latin	entirely /as a whole
laissez-faire	French	a policy of non-interference
mala fide	Latin	in bad faith
modus operandi	Latin	a way of doing something
mutatis mutandis	Latin	with the necessary changes
nota bene	Latin	note well
pari passu	Latin	side by side, equally or equivalently
per se	Latin	by itself
prima facie	Latin	at first view of consideration
probono public	Latin	for the good of the public
pro forma	Latin	denoting a standard document or form
pro rata	Latin	according to value or proportion
quid pro quo	Latin	a favor or advantage given in return for something
raison d’ etre	French	the most important reason for a thing’s existence
Resume	French	a summary or curriculum vitae
sanctum sanctorum	Latin	holy of holies
Seriatim	Latin	point by point
sine die	Latin	without a day being appointed
status quo	Latin	the existing condition
Stet	Latin	let it stand, do not deter
sub rosa	Latin	confidentially/done in secret
sui generis	Latin	in a class by itself
terra incognita	Latin	an unknown territory
ultra vires	Latin	beyond one’s authority
Verbatim	Latin	word for word
vice versa	Latin	conversely
Videlicet	Latin	namely, more formal term for ‘viz.’
vis-à-vis	French	in relation to, as compared with, as opposed to
viva voce	Latin	an oral examination
Zeitgeist	Greek	the defining spirit of a particular period or age

There is an aged old well-known saying “PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD”. Hence, one must learn the exact meaning of the words and more importantly their right usage to convey the information & expressing the ideas in the most proficient & valuable way.

I hope this piece of was helpful for you, please share your feedback.