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Language and the Law

Chapter III: Two Forensic Styles

THE SEMANTICS OF FORENSIC ENGLISH

by FREDERICK A. PHILBRICK

I. Introduction
(Tricia Desembrana)
o Forensic Language, defined
o Overview and Skeleton of the topic

II. Two Styles of Forensic Language

A. Factual Language and examples

o (Sherwin Lagrama) Corona Trial (hearsay)
o (Richard Odejar) shabu cases

B. Emotive Language and examples

o (Lovelle Cavida ) Greenville Lynching Case (group & religious feelings)
o (Zaira Magoncia) Fahmy Case (predilection towards the underdog)

III. Comparison and Distinction between Factual and Emotive Language

1. (Carleen Aguila) Clarence Darrow

2. (Jun Capones) People v. Genosa
3. (Ma. Luisa adorano) -
4. Julius Cada Luna v. Court of Appeals

Notable Ilustrative Cases

Source
Philbricks 1940s Group FeelingsConcept (Emotive) Lovelle
book Greenville Lynching Case (William Earle), black suspect
lynched for alleged crime
Philbricks 1940s Predilection for the Underdog Concept (Emotive) -
book Fahmy Case, the Princes wife who murdered him was
acquitted
Philbricks 1940s Biblical (Emotive) - Carleen
book Clarence Darrows defense
Other Examples: Corona Trial
Ruby vs. Provincial Board
People vs. Genosa
Michael Jackson
Foreign and local law-related movies and tv series.
I. INTRODUCTION

FORENSIC ENGLISH

It involves Linguistic knowledge, methods and insights to the forensic context of

law, language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure.

Among other things, this area examines language as it is used in cross-examination,

evidence presentation, judge's direction, police cautions, police testimonies in court,
summing up to a jury, interview techniques, the questioning process in court and in
other areas such as police interview.

As noted above, legal English differs from standard English in a number of ways. The
most important of these differences are as follows:

Use of terms of art. Legal English, in common with the language used by other
trades and professions, employs a great deal of technical terminology which is
unfamiliar to the layman (e.g. waiver, restraint of trade, restrictive
covenant, promissory estoppel). Much of this vocabulary is derived from French and
Latin.

These terms of art include ordinary words used with special meanings. For
example, the familiar term consideration refers, in legal English, to contracts, and
means, an act, forbearance or promise by one party to a contract that constitutes
the price for which the promise of the other party is bought (Oxford Dictionary of
Law). Other examples are construction, prefer, redemption, furnish, hold,and find.

Lack of punctuation. One aspect of archaic legal drafting particularly in

conveyances and deeds is the conspicuous absence of punctuation. This arose
from a widespread idea among lawyers that punctuation was ambiguous and
unimportant, and that the meaning of legal documents was contained only in the
words used and their context. In modern legal drafting, punctuation is used, and
helps to clarify their meaning.

Use of doublets and triplets. There is a curious historical tendency in legal

English to string together two or three words to convey what is usually a single legal
concept. Examples of this are null and void, fit and proper, (due) care and attention,
perform and discharge, terms and conditions, dispute, controversy or
claim, and promise, agree and covenant. This was originally done for the sake of
completeness. However sometimes the words used mean exactly the same thing
(null and void); although that is not always the case (dispute, controversy or claim).

Unusual word order. At times, the word order used in legal documents appears
distinctly strange. For example, the provisions for termination hereinafter
 appearing or will at the cost of the borrower forthwith comply with the same. There is
no single clear reason for this, although the influence of French grammatical
structures is certainly a contributory factor.

Use of unfamiliar pro-forms. For example, the same, the said, the
aforementioned etc. The use of such terms in legal texts is interesting since very
frequently they do not replace the noun which is the whole purpose of pro-forms
but are used as adjectives to modify the noun. For example, the said John Smith.

Use of pronominal adverbs. Words like hereof, thereof, and whereof (and further
derivatives, including -at, -in, -after, -before, -with, -by, -above, -on, -upon) are not
often used in ordinary modern English. They are used in legal English primarily to
avoid repeating names or phrases. For example, the parties hereto instead of the
parties to this contract.

-er, -or, and -ee name endings. Legal English contains some words and titles,
such as employer and employee; lessor and lessee, in which the reciprocal and
opposite nature of the relationship is indicated by the use of alternative endings.

Use of phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs play a large role in legal English, as they do
in standard English, and are often used in a quasi-technical sense. For
example, parties enter
into contracts, putdown deposits, serve [documents] upon other parties, write off
debts, and so on.

The exercises from Legal Writing in Plain English

n English are organized under fifty principles.

1 Have something to say--and think it through.

2 For maximal efficiency, plan your writing projects. Try nonlinear outlining.
3 Order your material in a logical sequence. Use chronology when presenting
facts. Keep related material together.
4 Divide the document into sections, and divide sections into smaller parts as
needed. Use informative headings for the sections and subsections.
5 Omit needless words.
6 Keep your average sentence length to about 20 words.
7 Keep the subject, the verb, and the object together--toward the beginning of
the sentence.
8 Prefer the active voice over the passive.
9 Use parallel phrasing for parallel ideas.
 10 Avoid multiple negatives.
11 End sentences emphatically.
12 Learn to detest simplifiable jargon.
13 Use strong, precise verbs. Minimize is, are, was, and were.
14 Turn -ion words into verbs when you can.
15 Simplify wordy phrases. Watch out for of.
16 Avoid doublets and triplets.
17 Refer to people and companies by name.
18 Don't habitually use parenthetical shorthand names. Use them only when you
really need them.
19 Shun newfangled acronyms.
20 Make everything you write speakable.
21 Plan all three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the end.
22 Use the "deep issue" to spill the beans on the first page.
23 Summarize. Don't overparticularize.
24 Introduce each paragraph with a topic sentence.
25 Bridge between paragraphs.
26 Vary the length of your paragraphs, but generally keep them short.
27 Provide signposts along the way.
28 Unclutter the text by moving citations into footnotes.
29 Weave quotations deftly into your narrative.
30 Be forthright in dealing with counterarguments.
31 Draft for an ordinary reader, not for a mythical judge who might someday
review the document.
32 Organize provisions in order of descending importance.
33 Minimize definitions. If you have more than just a few, put them in a schedule
at the end--not at the beginning.
34 Break down enumerations into parallel provisions. Put every list of subparts at
the end of the sentence--never at the beginning or in the middle.
35 Delete every shall.
36 Don't use provisos.
37 Replace and/or wherever it appears.
38 Prefer the singular over the plural.
39 Prefer numerals, not words, to denote amounts. Avoid word-numeral
doublets.
40 If you don't understand a form provision--or don't understand why it should be
included in your document--try diligently to gain that understanding. If you still
can't understand it, cut it.
41 Use a readable typeface.
42 Create ample white space--and use it meaningfully.
43 Highlight ideas with attention-getters such as bullets.
44 Don't use all capitals, and avoid initial capitals.
45 For a long document, make a table of contents.
46 Embrace constructive criticism.
47 Edit yourself systematically.
48 Learn how to find reliable answers to questions of grammar and usage.
 49 Habitually gauge your own readerly likes and dislikes, as well as those of
other readers.
50 Remember that good writing makes the reader's job easy; bad writing makes
it hard.

EMOTIVE LANGUAGE is abstract, vague, general, and expressed in value judgments

rather than in quantitative statements. The words were established through emotions
and feelings to deliver ideas and thoughts. Although different in nature but the common
objective as to factual language is to become persuasive to the audiences or readers.
Some of the examples were usually derived from personal impression based from the
defendant nationality, complexion, occupations, religions, or life status, and some
phrases from the bible. This language could be a vital source of information to attract
the attention of the audiences or readers, and could be a weapon to establish emotional
atmosphere. The Bible is the best source of irrelevant emotion. This will able to
persuade and influence the audiences or readers which can affect the judgment against
the facts.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803- April 27, 1882 (aged 78))

Transcendentalism is defined as "a movement in nineteenth-century American

literature and thought. It called on people to view the objects in the world as small
versions of the whole universe and to trust their individual intuitions

Self-Reliance

Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose: it resides in
the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the
darting to an aim. This one fact the world hates; that the soul becomes; for that forever
degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to a shame, confounds the
saint with the rogue, shoves Jesus and Judas equally aside. Why then do we prate of
self-reliance? Inasmuch as the soul is present there will be power not confident but
agent. To talk of reliance is a poor external way of speaking. Speak rather of that which
relies because it works and is. Who has more obedience than I masters me, though he
should not raise his finger. Round him I must revolve by the gravitation of spirits. We
fancy it rhetoric when we speak of eminent virtue. We do not yet see that virtue is
Height, and that a man or a company of men, plastic and permeable to principles, by
the law of nature must overpower and ride all cities, nations, kings, rich men, poets, who
are not. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emersons quotation (Self-Reliance)

In the Greenville lynching case John Marchant, one of the lawyers for the
defence, may have been imprudent when, in comparing the prosecution of his client
with the sufferings of Christ, he urged the jury to recall the words, "Forgive them.
Father, they know not what they do." Thomas Wofford, another attorney, wondered
whether Willie Earle, the dead Negro, had ever read the commandment "Thou shalt
not kill," and still another defence lawyer took pains to remind the jury that the Bible is
a part of the common law of the State of South Carolina. There were also references to
the wisdom of King Solomon and to the Book of Deuteronomy. Apart from other
peculiarities, the case included an astonishing range of allusions to irrelevant topics
thought to be capable of arousing emotion. The chief of these were suspicion of the
federal government, hatred of the South for the North, fear and hatred of the Negro,
hatred of foreigners, avarice, family affection, the home, family bereavement, state
patriotism, Christianity, alcohol, mediaeval tortures, and political prejudice in favour of
the Democratic and against the Republican party. The defence attorneys in this trial
undoubtedly made the most of their chances.

Marguerite Fahmy Case File

Classification: Murderer

Characteristics: Parricide

Number of victims: 1

Date of murder: July 9, 1923

Date of arrest: Same day

Date of birth: December 1890

Victim profile: Ali Bey Kemel Fahmy, 22 (her husband)

Method of murder: Shooting (Browning .32-caliber pistol)

Location: London, England, United Kingdom

Status: Found not guilty by a jury on September 14, 1923. Died in

Paris on January 2, 1971

The case was about the trial of a Frenchwoman for the murder of her Egyptian
husband in London in 1923 turned into a courtroom show of contempt and racist
prejudice against Eastern men generally and Egyptians in particular. At the Savoy Hotel
in London on the evening of 1 September 1923, Ali Kamel Fahmi Bek, an Egyptian
notable, quarrels bitterly with Marguerite, his French wife. He then emerges from the
hotel room and as his little dog scampers down the hallway. He whistles to call it back
when suddenly his wife shoots him in the back. He dies instantly.

Marguerite Fahmy was sensationally found not guilty of the internationally

reported murder of her Egyptian playboy husband at the hotel in 1923. There was not
the slightest shadow of doubt that the wife fatally shot her husband in the back. But her
British lawyer tore the husband's character to pieces and, in the process, strongly
condemned Eastern men for depravity, corruption and ill-treatment of wives. The jury,
swayed by the dramatic defense performance, acquitted the wife. The jury, after less
than an hours consideration, announced not guilty to both the charges of murder and
of manslaughter, and Madame Fahmy was discharged and was declared to be a free
woman.

Emotive Language used in the trial: Marshall Hall, the Great Defender

"East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."

What have I done, my dear! What have I done!

if women choose to come here to hear this case, they must take the consequences

Yes, he was only 23 years old, he told them. But he was given to a life of debauchery
and was obsessed with his sexual prowess.

Oriental man, his wife to him was no more than a belonging and that however much he
may have acquired the outward signs of urbanity and sophistication, he was forever an
Oriental under the skin.

We in this country put our women on a pedestal: in Egypt they have not the same
views

COMPARISON AND DISTINCTION BETWEEN FACTUAL AND EMOTIVE

LANGUANGE

FACTUAL EMOTIVE

(a) Concrete (a) Abstract

(b) Exact, precise (b) Vague
(c) Specific, particular (c) General
(d) Quantitative (d) Value judgment
(e) Mainly thoughts (e) Mainly emotions
(f) Focused on the facts (f) Distracted from the facts
(g) Precise thoughts (g) Warm emotion
(h) Cold and hard boiled thoughts (h) Irrelevant emotion
(i) Logical thoughts (i) Optimistic
(j) Cynical (j) Relaxed and receptive
(k) Critical and vigilant (k) Mood by the emotive style
(l) Mood is on the whole induced by
the factual style