This book describes the historical development of the Polish and English lingua legis. The
intention is to point out the major differences between the legal realities which
significantly affect the process of translation. Secondly the following characteristic
features of lingua legis concerning the level of words and syntagmas are touched upon:
vocabulary used in lingua legis including technical and semi-technical terms conservatism of
legal texts (Latin and Latinisms synonymous strings archaic adverbs etc.) borrowings terms
with non-precise meanings (the problem of indeterminacy) neologisms euphemisms vulgarisms
performative verbs metaphors and religious elements prepositional phrases time expressions
compound nouns and the problems connected with nominalization false cognates which cause major
misunderstandings and finally methods of providing translation equivalents. The problem of
ambivalence is analysed as well. The problems connected with the Polish-English and
English-Polish translation of the texts belonging to the following legal genres are examined:
university diplomas and certificates statutes judgments law reports powers of attorney
petitions contracts and deeds testaments birth death and marriage certificates and popular
fiction.
