The slow dynamics of legal language: Festina lente?

Lemmens, Koen

doi:10.1075/term.17.1.05lem

Article published In: The dynamics of terms in specialized communication: An interdisciplinary perspective
Edited by Rita Temmerman and Marc Van Campenhoudt
[Terminology 17:1] 2011
► pp. 74–93

Get fulltext from our e-platform

Download PDF

The slow dynamics of legal language

Festina lente?

Koen Lemmens

Published online: 20 June 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/term.17.1.05lem

In this article, the dynamics of legal language is analyzed from the perspective of a lawyer The focus will therefore be, not on the linguistic mechanisms of change, but on the reasons that can explain why, on the one hand, legal language, and more particularly, legal terminology has a tendency to remain unaltered, and why, on the other hand, legal language does change, albeit in a very slow way

Keywords: legal terminology, legal language, civil law, European legal order, slow change, common law, language and prestige, neologisms in law, archaic language

Cited by (9)

Cited by nine other publications

Order by:

Alwazna, Rafat Y.

2017. Culture and law: The cultural impact on islamic legal statements and its implications for translation . International Journal of Legal Discourse 2:2 ► pp. 225 ff.

Derlén, Mattias

2014. 1. Multilingualism and legal integration in Europe. In Dynamics and Terminology [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 16], ► pp. 17 ff.

Fernández-Silva, Sabela, Judit Freixa & M. Teresa Cabré Castellví

2014. 9. A method for analysing the dynamics of naming from a monolingual and multilingual perspective. In Dynamics and Terminology [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 16], ► pp. 183 ff.

Kocbek, Alenka

2014. 6. The translation of legal texts as culturemes. In Dynamics and Terminology [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 16], ► pp. 111 ff.

Peruzzo, Katia

2014. 2. Capturing dynamism in legal terminology. In Dynamics and Terminology [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 16], ► pp. 43 ff.

Peruzzo, Katia

2017. Legal system: an additional variable in the analysis of short-term diachronic evolution of legal terminology. International Journal of Legal Discourse 2:2 ► pp. 291 ff.

Peruzzo, Katia

2018. Diachrony in legal terminology: a case study on the rights of victims of crime in the EU. ASp 74 ► pp. 113 ff.

Whittaker, Sunniva

2014. 3. The harmonization of legal cultures, concepts and terms. In Dynamics and Terminology [Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, 16], ► pp. 61 ff.

Temmerman, Rita

2011. Researching plurilinguistic competences in specialised domains: Looking for means to prevent exclusion. European Journal of Language Policy 3:2 ► pp. 163 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.