The specialized language used in legal writing makes it difficult to read. In statutes, court decisions, and business contracts, the legal doctrine is often conveyed through technical terms known as terms of art. Although these terms vary in origin and purpose, they are generally broken down into three categories: specialty terminology, foreign terminology, and archaic terminology.
The phrase specialized terminology refers to terms used in the legal profession. Laws introduced some special terminology to convey meanings specific to the law. These terms include: affidavit (a written or printed statement made under oath); tort (a civil wrong without criminal penalties); the writ (a court order for a person to do or refrain from doing something); and litigation (a legal proceeding). The legal community has adopted several everyday terms and given them a new meaning. The words here are motion (a request to a judge for a decision on an issue related to the case), damages (money that a defendant pays a plaintiff if the plaintiff wins the case), and assume (an agreement to perform obligations under a contract or lease).
Legal terms from foreign languages are called foreign terminology. The language of law most commonly adopted is Latin, followed by French. Examples of foreign terms include: en banc (French, meaning on the bench. All the judges of an appellate court sitting together to hear a case instead of the normal three judges); habeas corpus (Latin, meaning you have the body. A judicial order ordering law enforcement authorities to produce a prisoner they are holding and to justify the prisoner's continued imprisonment); and In-camera (In the judge's chamber, away from the jury and public).
Legal writing tends to use archaic language to convey specific directions without excessive repetition. Basically, they are phrases that have been reduced to single words. This archaic category of terminology includes words such as heretofore, thereupon, and whereabouts. These terms were once common in the English language, but have since fallen out of use and are now only used in 'art terms.'
A legal document as a primary source can be effectively analyzed only if we understand the terminology used by the legal profession. If you would like to practice working with legal jargon, identify a few terms used in the most recognized legal document of the United States, the Constitution of the United States of America.