Standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language
A legal doublet is a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are irreversible binomials and frequently synonyms, usually connected by "and", such as "null and void". The order of the words cannot be reversed, as it would be particularly unusual to ask someone to desist and cease or to have property owned clear and free; these common legal phrases are universally known as cease and desist and free and clear.
The doubling—and sometimes even tripling—often originates in the transition from use of one language for legal purposes to another: in Britain, from a native English term to a Latin or Law French term; in Romance-speaking countries, from Latin to the vernacular. To ensure understanding, the terms from both languages were used. This reflected the interactions between Germanic and Roman law following the decline of the Roman Empire. These phrases are often pleonasms[1] and form irreversible binomials.
In other cases the two components have differences which are subtle, appreciable only to lawyers, or obsolete. For example, ways and means, referring to methods and resources respectively,[2] are differentiable, in the same way that tools and materials, or equipment and funds, are differentiable—but the difference between them is often practically irrelevant to the contexts in which the irreversible binomial ways and means is used today in non-legal contexts as a mere cliché.
Doublets may also have arisen or persisted because the solicitors and clerks who drew up conveyances and other documents were paid by the word, which tended to encourage verbosity.[3]
Their habitual use has been decried by some legal scholars as superfluous in modern legal briefs.[1]
^ abEspenschied, Lenné Eidson (2010). "10.1 Eliminate clutter and redundant language § Eliminate common doublets and triplets". Contract Drafting: Powerful Prose in Transactional Practice. ABA Fundamentals. Chicago: American Bar Association. pp. 164–165. ISBN 978-1-60442-795-0. LCCN 2010003298. OCLC 505017586. OL 15443452W.
^Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, archived from the original on 2015-09-25, retrieved 2018-02-02.
^English, Barbara; Saville, John (1983). Strict Settlement: a guide for historians. Hull: University of Hull Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-85958-439-9.
A legaldoublet is a standardized phrase used frequently in English legal language consisting of two or more words that are irreversible binomials and...
root Doublet, in textual criticism, two different narrative accounts of the same actual event Legaldoublet, a standardized phrase in English legal language...
specialized vocabulary, syntactic constructions, and set phrases such as legaldoublets. Legal English has traditionally been the preserve of lawyers from English-speaking...
letter's recipient may be sued. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legaldoublet, made up of two near-synonyms. A cease and desist letter issued by a...
many lawyers use the same collocations found in legal documents centuries old. Many of these legaldoublets contain two synonyms, often one of Old English...
meaning an outcry and cry, though such "redundancy" is a feature of the legaldoublet. "Hue" appears to come from the Old French huer, which means "to shout"...
discipline!" — David Goggins Antanaclasis Cognate object Figura etymologica Legaldoublet "Polyptoton - Definition and Examples of Polyptoton". Literary Devices...
(identical) to the names of dances. Antanaclasis Figura etymologica Hendiadys Legaldoublet Merism Pleonasm (the use of more words than necessary to express an...
punishment as might be imposed on conviction of the first-mentioned offence. Legaldoublet Common purpose, a similar principal under English Law One or more of...
speech in which a whole is indicated by a brief enumeration of parts Legaldoublets, which are the conjoining of two synonymous words Antiptosis Matthew...
and Law French were used side by side for maximum clarity. Other such legaldoublets include "breaking and entering" and "peace and quiet". The concept of...
Legal writing involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as legal memoranda and briefs. One form of legal...
with no outstanding mortgages or liens.[citation needed] Land title Legaldoublet Black, Henry Campbell (1995). A Law Dictionary Containing Definitions...
doublets as follows: doublet of Aces: bezas (diminutive of ambesas), bezet; doublet of 2: double two (doublet de deux); doublet of 3: ternes; doublet...
Operation Doublet is an investigation set up in 2012 by Greater Manchester Police into child sexual exploitation in Rochdale and other areas of Greater...
civilization as the familiar academic and legal robes of today. However, back then it was always worn over a doublet by men. The houppelande appeared around...
conditions", "each and every" are legaldoublets that are part of legally operative language that is often drafted into legal documents. A classic example...
optics business and his patenting and commercialization of achromatic doublets. Dollond was the son of a Huguenot refugee, a silk-weaver at Spitalfields...
semantic—in most cases these words are not cognates, but in some cases they are doublets, i.e., ultimately derived from the same root, generally Proto-Indo-European...
The doublets have individual names: doublet of Aces: bezas (diminutive of ambesas), bezet; doublet of 2: double two (doublet de deux); doublet of 3:...
it is written hatun. The general Turkish word for 'woman', kadın, is a doublet derived from the same origin. Qutluğ Säbäg Qatun, queen regent of the Second...
jacket worn with armoured breastplates that would later evolve into the doublet) rather than to their drawers. In the fifteenth century, rising hemlines...
Highland pistols and powder horn may be worn. Dress Doublet- of velvet, cloth or tartan. Waistcoat [if doublet is intended to be worn unbuttoned]- velvet, cloth...
borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f-/h- doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand")...
use both numbers of a roll and all four numbers in the case he throws a doublet in rolling the dice. Hitting is not allowed in Plakoto. Instead, if a player...
Global Information