4. Frequency of performative verbs

In speech act theory, performative utterances are those by which the state of affairs expressed by the words comes into being, or those that commit the speaker to carrying out or performing the actions expressed by the words. For instance, when a court gives judgment on an issue, the decision comes into effect through the very act of pronouncing the operative words, or signing and delivering the document that contains them. Performative verbs are those that constitute the nucleus of such statements or declarations. Among the most common performative verbs are 'agree', 'admit' (recognize, allow), 'pronounce' (declare), 'uphold' (maintain, affirm), 'promise', 'undertake' (contract or commit oneself), 'swear' (promise), 'affirm', 'certify', 'overrule' (disallow) and so on.

e.g. Both parties to the contract hereby agree to the following conditions….

The Board of Trustees does hereby confer upon John Smith the degree….

Be it enacted …..цим постановляється….( формула початку законодавчих актів)

5. Unusual prepositional phrases

Van Dijk (1981:285) reports a high frequency of "as to" in American legal English, and finds intensive occurrence of “in the event of" (у випадку) instead of "if" and "any".

6. Unique Determiners

The distinct representatives are those of such and said. They are used in a way specific only for the legal discourse. They mean this, the, the particular, the one that is being concerned and no other: e.g. the said property (ця (така) власність).

7. Frequency of Any

This word is considered redundant, but in legal documents is more than common: any child or children, any encumbrances, any other assets, etc.

8. Formality

Many expressions of legal English have a high degree of formality, e.g. the preference of shall to will; positions of people and institutions have capitalized initial letters, for instance Grantor (особа, яка надає право (або субсидію); особа, яка передає право; дарувальник; особа, яка дає дозвіл); Devisee (спадкоємець нерухомості за заповітом, легатарій); Contractor (сторона в угоді (договорі); підрядник, контрагент); Attorney (повірений; юрист; адвокат, працівник органів юстиції, прокурор, аторней); even the names of the documents are capitaliяed: Warranty Deed (документ на право володіння майном), Last Will and Testament (остання воля; заповіт; розпорядження на випадок смерті).

In legal drafting, non-standard terms are never used. Instead, highly formal words are usually employed. For instance, the word deem instead of consider, the word liable instead of responsible.

9. Negatives

Multiple negatives are characteristic items of the legal language. They are not expressed only by not, never, but most frequently by adding the terms like unless, except or by prefixes un-, in-, etc.

10. Highly impersonal style of writing

Using passive forms is one of the most common methods of emphasizing the impersonal in a language. The generalized use of the third person (singular and plural)

in legislative texts helps to reinforce the idea of impartiality and authoritativeness. Where, for example, a provision applies to everybody, the sentence either begins with every person, everyone etc. when expressing an obligation or authorization, or no person, no one etc. when expressing a prohibition, as in these sections, respectively 13 and 32, from the South African Constitution of 1997:

e.g. No one may be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour.

Everyone has the right of access to – (a) any information held by the state; and (b) any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.

Though legal documents are made to serve as a communication between two (or more) parties, they are typically written in the third person as it adds to the degree of formality. The parties concerned are referred to as the Contractor, the Grantee, the Borrower, the Lender, etc.