Essential Latin for Lawyers

Essential Latin for Lawyers provides translations, discussions, and explanations of Latin legal terminology that law students and lawyers are most likely to use. Unlike other reference books, this book is arranged by subject areas in law, such as constitutional law, contracts, property, torts, general terms, etc. The book also contains a glossary of over 290 Latin terms that occur frequently in legal writing, an appendix, and a guide to classical Latin pronunciation.

Since the first edition of this book was published in 1990, lawyers, lawmakers, judges, and legal scholars have continued to use Latin words and phrases in their legal writing and analysis and show no signs of discontinuing that practice. This second edition updates legal Latin terminology by adding dozens of references, illustrations, and quotes from cases decided in the last few decades. In addition, references to statutes and model acts that have been amended subsequent to 1990 have been brought up to date to reflect amended wording and numbering systems.

Essential Latin for Lawyers explains legal Latin words and phrases in context by using cases, statutes, and hypotheticals; it is not merely a dictionary.