英语法律文本的句式特征

The Characteristic of Sentence Patterns in Legal English Text

英语法律文本是由英美法系国家专业法律人士所使用的语言文本,在经历过几个世纪的演变和发展后,呈现出用词谨慎,行文正式、复杂、保守的特点。其中古体词和法律术语因其具有极其复杂的长句和固定的语篇结构,一直是我国学者了解西方先进法律制度的障碍。本文从句法切入,力求"解冻"法律英语,并为阅读英美法系法律法规提供语言学支撑。

Legal English is the type of English used by lawyers and other legal professionals in the course of their work. It has particular relevance when applied to reading and the drafting of written material,including legal documents, court pleadings, laws, and legal correspondence. With linguistic feature of complexion, accuracy, and solemnity, legal English is the frozen style of language which can be reflected by its unusual features. These largely relate to terminology, linguistic structure, linguistic conventions,and punctuation, and have their roots in the history of the development of English as a legal language.This paper is aimed to analysis the characteristics of sentence patterns of the legal English.