The effect of the Norman conquest of England is still apparent in the technical, legal words In 'or dinary use. "At the present day," says a learned writer, "it would hardly he too much to say that all our words having a definite legal import are in a certain sense French words. A German jurist is able to expound the doctrines of Roman law in genuinely German words. On many a theme an English man of letters may by way of exploit write a paragraph or a page and use no word that Is not in every sense a genuinely English word; but an English lawyer who attempted a similar puritanical feat would find himself doomed to silence. . . . It is worthy of remark that within the sphere of public law we have some old terms that have come down to us from unconquered England. Earl was not displaced by count, sheriff was not displaced by viscount, our king, our queen, our lords, our knights of the shire are English ; our aldermen are English if our mayors are French : hut our parliament and its statutes, our privy council and its ordinances, our peers, our barons, the commons of the realm, the sovereign, the state, the nation, the people are French ; our citizens are French and our burgesses are more French than English. So too a few of the very common legal transactions of daily life can be described by English verbs. A man may give, sell, buy, let, hire, borrow, bequeath, make a deed, a will, a bond, and even be guilty of manslaughter or of theft, and all this is English. But this is a small matter. . . . Let us look elsewhere and observe how widely and deeply the French influence has worked. Contract, agreement, covenant, obligation, debt, condition, bill, note, master, servant, part ner, guarantee, tort, trespass, assault, battery, slander, damage, crime, treason, felony, misde meanor, arson, robbery, burglary, larceny, prop erty, possession, pledge, lien, payment, money, grant, purchase, devise, descent, heir, easement, marriage, guardian, all are French. We enter a court of justice ; court, justices, judges, jurors, counsel, attorneys, clerks, parties, plaintiff, defend ant, action, suit, claim, demand, indictment, count, declaration, pleadings, evidence, verdict, conviction, judgment, sentence, appeal, every one and every thing, save the witnesses, writs and oaths, have French names. In the province of justice and po lice with its fines, its gaols, and its prisons, its con stables, its arrests, we must, now that outlawry is a thing of the past, go as far as the galiowe if we would find an English instituttn. Right and wrong we have kept, and though we ave received tort we have rejected droit but even law probably owes its salvation to its remote cousin the French lei." 1 Poll. & Maitl. 58.
Agreements, contracts, wills, and other in struments may be made in any language, and will be enforced. Bac. Abr. Wins (D 1).
An English court, having to construe a con tract made in a foreign country and foreign language, must obtain a translation of the instrument and an explanation of the, terms of art, if any; 10 H. L. C. 624. And a slan der spoken in a foreign language, if under stood' by those present, or a libel published in such language, will be punished as if spoken or written in the English language; Newell, Def. ,Sland. & L. 231; Bac. Abr. Slander (D 3) ; 1 Rolle, Abr. 74; 6 Term 163. See FOREIGN LANGUAGES. For the construc tion of language, see articles CONSTEUCTION; INTERPRETATION; Jacob, Intr. to the Corn. Law Max. 46.
At an early period, the Latin was the diplomatic language in use in Europe. To wards the end of the fifteenth century that of Spain gained the ascendancy, in con sequence of the great influence which that country then exercised in Europe. The French, since the age of Louis XIV., has become the almost universal diplomatic idi om of the civilized world; though some states use their national language in treaties and diplomatic correspondence. It is usual in these cases to annex to the papers trans mitted a translation in the language of the opposite party, wherever it is understood this comity will be reciprocated. This is the usage of the Germanic Confederation, of Spain, and of the Italian courts. When na tions using a common language, as the Unit ed States and Great Britain, treat with each other, such language is used in their diplo matic intercourse.
It is believed that the first departure from the rule that the French language Should be used in all diplomatic conferences and con gresses was in the Berlin conference of 1889, held between the representatives of Germa ny, Great Britain, and the United States, with reference to the affairs of Samoa. As appears by a protocol of the first session, the proposal was made by the representa tives of the United States, and assented to by those of Germany and Great Britain, that the proceedings of the conference should be conducted in the English language. The president of the conference, however, though a German, reserved to himself the right to use the French language at any time if he should find difficulty in expressing himself satisfactorily in the English, but he did not find it necessary to avail himself of that right. Accordingly, the protocols of the first of these sittings were in French, and after that in English.
See, generally, 3 Bla. Corn. 323; 1 Chitty, Cr. L. 415; 2 Rey, Inst, jud. de l'Angleterre, 211, 212; Kelh. Diet.; Tayl. Law Gloss.; FALSE LATIN.
A charter may not be refused to a social club by a court merely because its title is in a foreign language; Deutsch-Amerikan ischer Volksfest-Verein, 200 Pa. 143, 49 Atl. 945.