Legal English and translation: theory and practice

The aim of this book is to provide an easy introduction to the understanding of Legal English. The book is in four parts. In the first and second parts, a theoretical background is provided where emphasis is place on analysing the peculiar features of this variety of ESP (English for Specific Purposes). A linguistic approach (both morphological and semantical) has been adopted, although other disciplines have also been taken into account, in particular sociolinguistics. This is so because Legal English is the jargon (despectively dismissed as «legalese») of an elite whose job is the meting out of justice. The third part deals with translation but from a theoretical point of view. By making use of (mostly) pragmatic concepts. A framework has been established to account for as many meanings in the texts as possible. The fourth section contains texts and documents, as well as introductions in most cases, illustrative of the different areas of the Law (Housing Law, Criminal Law, etc). Special care has been taken to select a wide variety of texts and documents to allow readers to enjoy an overview of Legal English at work. This section is heavily annotated. These notes provide explanations and translations into Spanish of the most difficult words, expressions and concepts. We are sure that this book will be useful to both the student (of English Philology, Translation and Law) and the proffesional involved in the teaching of English, journalists, translators as well as lawyers, judges, etc.