The purpose and the scope of this note

As previous works in the Common Core of European Private Law series show, the treatment in the English language of the law of the Member States of the European Union is fraught with terminological problems. At first sight, these problems seem to originate essentially from the desire to express in English a number of legal concepts that do not have their roots in English law. The truth of the matter is that the same problems arise whatever natural language is employed to frame and present cross-border research on the law of several European jurisdictions. To be sure, a book on the English law of trusts written in French would have to make some shrewd terminological bets to render in that language key concepts of English law.

In any case, considering the use of English for the purposes of comparative legal research, the language obstacle would pose a tremendous challenge only if we were to ignore the fact that English as a legal language has a life of its own, not necessarily related to English law. Happily, nobody requires us to ignore that fact. In Europe, the law of Scotland is a monumental example of how the English language can express legal concepts unknown in England. Outside Europe, there are civil codes largely indebted to the civilian tradition which are in force in English.