English Law

The first Law-French dictionary: (English Law, 1718)

This work was a real pioneer, and a valuable addition to legal literature, but was considered far from perfect: in fact, Winfield characterized it as "an unscientific, slovenly, inaccurate affair." It was, however, one of the first attempts to aid lawyers in the translation of documents. It contains a Law-French – English dictionary for translating old deeds and Year Books, followed by an English – Latin dictionary for writing pleadings. Its writer wished, as he states in the preface, to create a work "for the use and ease of all young students in the common law." The Latin or pleader's dictionary is by far the larger part of the work; by contrast, the Law-French section is cursory and short, deemed quite inadequate by contemporary readers. While most of the basic definitions are accurate, the selection of words was peculiar, including dubiously French words like "bigotizing," "gafoldgyld," and "shovellers."

Percy H. Winfield discusses this book in The Chief Sources of English Legal History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925).

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