Prior to law school, I had been forewarned that to be a fluent reader of American case law, you must be a bilingual speaker of both English and Legalese. Despite this warning, I still found myself stumbling upon foreign words that stood nobly out amongst the rest of familiar modern English. These strange, yet dignified terms derived from the classical language of Latin. Latin was the principal language of the Holy Roman Empire and served as the foundation of its legal, administrative, and scholarly traditions. 

Roman Civil Law has come to be realized as the foundation of social control in a great part of the Western Hemisphere. Major concepts within American law, such as Property Law, Domestic Relations, and Contracts, derive from Roman Law. One can trace the origin of these laws to France and Spain, as through their inauguration of Roman-inspired systems of law, the spirit of the Eternal City lives on today in the United States. Through a series of imperial expansions, conquests, and territorial transactions, beginning with Napoleon Bonaparte and his Code Napoleon and ending with the sale of Louisiana to the United States, the influence of Roman legal tradition firmly took root in the New World. All roads truly do lead to Rome.

To most people, Latin is a dead language. Yet one of the enduring pillars of American law, stare decisis, proves otherwise. This doctrine, which calls on courts to follow precedent, keeps our legal system rooted in its past. Lawyers and judges alike continue to engage with ideas and expressions first articulated centuries ago, predominantly in Latin. In that spirit, I have gathered several of my favorite Latin phrases that continue to echo through the study and practice of law:

A priori refers to an assertion based on prior knowledge or intuition. In Latin, the term literally means “from what is earlier.” 

A posteriori is used to describe knowledge gained from experience or actual observation. It is a Latin phrase that means “from what is later.” 

Ad hoc is Latin for “to this” and means “for this purpose only.” Examples often include ad hoc committees or commissions established to handle particular issues or temporary matters that do not fall within the responsibilities of existing groups.

Habeas Corpus is Latin for “that you have the body.” A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee before the court to determine if the person’s imprisonment or detention is lawful.

Res ipsa loquitur is Latin for “the thing speaks for itself.” Res ipsa loquitur is a principle in tort law that allows plaintiffs to meet their burden of proof with what is, in effect, circumstantial evidence.

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Staniel Brutis is a third-year student at BC Law. Contact him at brutis@bc.edu.