Sumptuary Laws of the Temple respecting Dress Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Edward Coke LAW AND LAWYERS. THE LANGUAGE OF THE LAW. NOTHING more singular can well be imagined than the language of our law in early times, when the English, the French, and the Latin were all employed. The proceedings in court (after the statute of Edward III.) were carried on in English, reported in French, and entered upon record in Latin. There is no doubt, that the French was introduced into our judicial proceedings by the Normans, on the conquest; and, indeed, William I. is said to have ordained, not only that the pleadings in all courts of justice should be in that language, but likewise that it should be taught at schools. In Chaucer's time, these schools appear to have been in full operation. Of the Prioress Eglantine, the poet says, Frenche she spake full fayre and fetisly, After the schole of Stratford atte Bowe, Prologue, ver. 124. VOL. I. B |