1. Legal Terms and Abbreviations

2.  It is the main language used around the world not only for teaching law, but also for practice  Works as ‘Tool of trade’ for lawyers ◦ Mastery in vocabulary helps lawyers greatly when it comes to legal matters  Understand legal materials easily and quickly, thus saves time ◦ Textbooks, cases, statutes and journals are mostly in English and having sound command in the language makes jobs fast.

3.  The use of Latin in legal texts has been popular since time immemorial  Certain legal terms has been given specific Latin terms to connote certain meaning  E.g. loco parentis (in the place of the parent)  Actus reus (guilty act)  Mens rea (guilty mind)  Obiter dictum (saying by the way)  Ratio decidendi (reasons for the decision), a remark or observation made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court's opinion, does not form a necessary part of the court's decision

4.  In Malaysia and many parts of the world, there has been a move to depart from usage of Latin in legal texts  Some Latin concepts are difficult to be expressed in native tongue  Latin terms are being replaced by plain English

5.  Use of abbreviations in law is very popular  For example, ◦ CJ (refers to Chief Justice) ◦ LJ (Lord Justice) ◦ JCA (Judge of the Court of Appeal) ◦ FCJ (Federal Court Judge)  Reference to dictionary or abbreviation guidebook should assist for understanding