Further affiant sayeth . . . not!

Like all jargon, our profession uses some words and phrases so much (and so traditionally), that we often don’t stop to think about their origins.  Here are a few examples from The Party of the First Part by Adam Freedman (Henry Holt & Co. 2007). Freedman demonstrates that most are also legalese.

Boilerplate: The most prevalent story has it that the word is a newspaper term dating back to the time when typesetters had to use metal plates, and kept standard material on permanent plates.

Further affiant sayeth naught: Freedman cautions that incorrectly modernizing the archaic “naught” to “not” results in a slightly more negative meaning. Because “naught” means nothing, as opposed to “does not” or “will not,” I suppose he means that it sounds like the witness is refusing to testify further, rather than merely stopping at that point.

Indenture: This word sometimes appears at the top of contracts, but for no good reason; it used to mark the spot where notches in the paper would be cut to show that copies had been executed at the same time and were true copies.

Know all men by these presents: the “presents” refers to the Latin presens scriptum, or “these writings.”

“ss.” (in the venue header for affidavits). No one seems to be able to claim for certain what “ss.” stands for anymore, although it’s been posited that it comes from the Latin scilicet, or “one may know.” Apparently, when read aloud, it is read in English as “to wit.”

Subpoena: If you studied Latin, you may already know that this word literally means “under penalty.”

Freedman’s entertaining book also contains chapters on jargon from various doctrinal fields, such as Torts, as well as a history of the debate between plain legal English advocates and their moral enemies, the “Precision school.” 

Image: Microsoft.com