Bill Poser at Language Log points out a blog that argues that "Legal Latin" - i.e., Latin as used in the legal profession - is unconstitutional, as a violation of the Establishment clause: It is the "foreign language of a church." That's pretty hilarious in and of itself, but I would probably not have written this post except for the by-way indicated by one of the commenters: In Ex Parte Lockett (1919), a sodomy law in California was found unconstitutional because of the Latin terminology it used. In this case the Latin was not unconstitutional per se, but because the use of Latin technical terms rendered it unclear to the public which acts were being prohibited by the law. Apparently Justice Henry Melvin in a related prior opinion included discussion of passages from Martial in an attempt to cast doubt on the precision of the terms and thus the law itself...
Hi, interesting post. I have been pondering this issue,so thanks for writing. I will definitely be coming back to your site. Keep up the good work
Posted by: Phone Sex Girls | September 14, 2009 at 03:53 AM