The Pleading in English Act 1362 (''36 Edw. III c. 15''), often rendered Statute of Pleading, was an Act of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advise ...

. The Act complained that because the Norman French language was largely unknown to the common people of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, they had no knowledge of what was being said for or against them in the courts, which used

Law French Law French ( nrf, Louai Français, enm, Lawe Frensch) is an archaic language originally based on Old Norman and Anglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced by Parisian French and, later, English. It was used in the law courts of England, be ...

. The Act therefore stipulated that "all Pleas which shall be pleaded in nyCourts whatsoever, before any of his Justices whatsoever, or in his other Places, or before any of His other Ministers whatsoever, or in the Courts and Places of any other Lords whatsoever within the Realm, shall be pleaded, shewed, defended, answered, debated, and judged in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

, and that they be entered and inrolled in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

".Text of Statute of Pleading, 1362
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Historical context

Prior to the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqu ...

in 1066, traditional common law in England had been discussed in the vernacular since

time immemorial Time immemorial ( la, Ab immemorabili) is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record". The phrase is used in legally significant contexts as well as ...

, and had been written in the Germanic vernacular (

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

) since c. 600 with the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

s and beginning with the law code of Æthelberht of Kent. Following the Norman conquest, the language of the latest conquerors was used Anglo-Norman French, which developed into

, was used for pleadings, and Latin was used in writing. The fourteenth century saw a decline in Law French, hence the Pleading in English Act, which marked the beginning of modern

Legal English Legal English is the type of English as used in legal writing. In general, a legal language is a formalized language based on logic rules which differs from the ordinary natural language in vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and semantics, as well ...

. Some 50 years later, English became the language of official government in the form of

Chancery Standard Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

during the reign of

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

(1413 to 1422). The statute was repealed by the

Statute Law Revision Act 1863 The Statute Law Revision Act 1863 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was intended, in particular, to facilitate the preparation of a revised edition of the statutes. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whol ...

and the

Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 The Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict c 98) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed, as to Ireland, certain Acts of the Parliament of England which had been extended to the then Lordship of Ireland by ...

References

Acts of the Parliament of England Language policy in the United Kingdom 1360s in law 1362 in England {{statute-stub

Historical context

See also

References