ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

(The discipline of law )

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Mr. Ishaan Shubhkarmanpreet
B.com LLB
202/17
1. According to Denning, command of language is one the most important thing
for construction of documents. Write a critical essay on importance of language
proficiency in the field of law by citing examples from the book.

Lord Denning in his book ‘ The Discipline of Law’ makes one understand that in
the daily practice of the law, the most important subject is the construction of
documents and to succeed, a lawyer must cultivate command of language. Words
are the tools of the profession because they are the vehicle of our thought as
“obscurity in thought inexorably leads to obscurity in language.”

In any parlance of the law that a lawyer finds himself, two things are vital to legal
development, ‘ practice’ and ‘ command of language’ in legal documents like
pleadings, letters, agreements, instruments, memoranda, reports, legal opinions
or any similar documents.

A young lawyer in drafting legal documents of whatever sort must be careful to

avoid obscurity in content or ambiguity in the true intent of the message.
Constantly in practice, one will find ordinary people giving different meanings to
the same word or a word may mean one thing to one person and another thing to
another, this is why a lawyer must be clear, precise and definite in the
construction of document. For example, take the word 'insulting behaviour'.
Blowing a whistle on the Centre Court at Wimbledon may be 'insulting behaviour';
but blowing it at the Cup Final at Wembley would not.

Seek to make your points clear at all cost, make them positive and definite. Not
neutral or vacillating”, a lawyers command of language ought to sound confident
when expressing a legal opinion or when preparing a written address in support
of an application or a brief of argument, you may be wrong about the position of
the law but don’t be in doubt of the message conveyed.

This goes to show the importance of words to the legal practitioner. Apart from
writing, when a young lawyer is addressing the court either to move a motion or
adopt a written address, your command of language should also be precise, don’t
slur your words, or sound nervous or shaky. No matter how short the minutes one
has to make a point, try to be audible enough to ensure everyone in the court
room can hear and relate with the message conveyed.

Wherever a lawyer finds himself, the tools of the profession remain the same
‘practice’ and ‘command of language’; it’s a uniform recipe for legal development.