本站原创Abstract：ThispaperdiscussesstylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishfromtheperspectiveofgraphological,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.
Keywords：legalEnglishstylisticfeatures
LegalEnglishmeansEnglishforlegalmattersinthoseEnglish-speakingcountriessuchasBritain,UnitedStates,Canada,etc.LegalEnglishcanalsobecalledEnglishforlaworthelegalprofession.It'sspecialEnglishwithlegalprofessionalfeatures,anditbelongstothecategoryofappliedlinguistics.ItisbasedonthegeneralEnglishwithitsownstylisticfeatures.
MartinJoosputforwardfivestylesoflanguage：thefrozenstyle；theformalstyle；theconsultativestyle；thecasualstyle；theintimatestyle.WhilelegalEnglishisoneofthemostformaloneinallkindsofEnglishvarieties.Itispartofthefrozenstyle.Itsuniquestylisticfeaturecanbereflectedbyitsdistinctgraphology,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.
GraphologicalLevel：
CapitalizationCapitalsareusedtodignifyorpersonifyalexiconitem,initialcapitalorkeywordsaretypicalfeaturesoflegallanguage.SuchasinTheConstitutionoftheUnitedSates,WethePeopleoftheUnitedStates,inOrdertoformamoreperfectUnion,establishJustice,insuredomesticTranquility等
LexicalLevel：
ArchaisLegalEnglish,asahighlyregularwrittenlanguage,theuseofarchaicwordsisoneofthemostremarkablecharacteristic.itreflectstheregular,solemn,conservative,rigidandauthoritativestyleoflegalEnglish.Themostoftenarchaicwordsarethosepoundsadverbormedusuallybyanadverbialword,towhichapreposition-likewordhadbeensuffixed,forexample,whereby,thereafter,hereby,henceforth.hereto.etc.Archaisarevitalpartoflegaltext,fortheconservativeorarchaiclanguageisregardedaoreformalandprecisethaneverydayspeech,andatthesametime.itiortheauthorityoflaw.TheappropriateuseofArchaiscanincreasethesolemnityandeleganceoflegallanguage.
LoanwordromLatinandFrenchTheEnglishlanguageisamixedcharacter,oneofthesignificantfeaturesofEnglishisitassborrowingfromotherlanguage,andmorethanhalfoftheEnglishvocabularyisderivedfromLatinandFrench.FrenchandLatinwordsusedinlegalEnglishareextremelynumerousaswell.TheearlieststatuesusedLatinastheirmediumofmunication,andfromabout1275tothefifteencenturyFrenchwasthepredominantlanguageinEurope.Nowadays,LatinandFrenchstillpervadeEnglishlegaltext.Suchasveto否决,homicide杀人,custody拘留,jusretentiouis留置权,plaintiff原告,defendant被告,attorney律师.TechnicaltermsThisreferstocertainwordsorexpressionsusedinthefieldoflaw.ComparedwithordinaryEnglish,meaningsofthesetermsarefixedandstable.Usingthesetechnicaltermsisaneffectivewaytoachieveaccuracy.Eachtechnicaltermreferstoagivenlegalconcept,anditcannotbereplacedbyanyotherterminuse.Suchasspecificperformance（强制执行）,contemptofcourt（藐视法庭）,plaintiff（原告）,powerofattorney（委托书）alibi（不在犯罪现场）,burdenofproof（举证责任）.
FrequentuseofsynonymsThefrequentuseofpairsofsynonymsisanothernotablefeatureoflegaltexts.Throughtheuseofsynonymslegaltextanagetostateclearlynearlyallthelikelyandexpectedconditions.Thefollowingaresomeexamplesofsynonyms：Rightsandinterests（权益）,termsandconditions（条件）,lossesanddamages（损坏）,nullandvoid（无效）.
Syntacticlevel
DeclarativesentencesLegallanguageisbasicallyconnectedwiththeauthorizationofrights,impositionofobligationsorpunishment,andenforcementoflaw.Forthesakeofobjectivityandimpartiality,theuseofdeclarativesentencesispredominantinlegalEnglish.However,theotherthreetypesofsentencesseldomcanbefoundinlegaltextortheytendtoshowemotions.Forexample：TheArbitrationCommissionhasonehonoraryChairmanandseveraladvisers.TheaboveexamplesstipulatetheinstaurationofArbitrationCommission.
LongandplexsentenceOneofthemoststrikingcharacteristicsoflegalsyntaxisthepreponderanceoflongsentences.Inordertooiddisputesandmisunderstandings,thestatementoflegalregulationsorcontracttermustbeprecise,pleteandmeticulousauchaspossible.Comparedwithshortsentences,theycanexpresoreplicatedideasandfactsnotlikeshortsentenceswhicharemorecasualandcolloquialandaremostlikelytobeusedinunofficialoccasions.Hence,theEnglishlegaltextsoftenareobscureandhardtounderstand.
NominalstructuresOnesalientfeatureoflegalEnglishisitspreferencefornominalization,itmeanstheactionprocessesareexpressedintheformofnouns,forinstance,to"makeanappointment"insteadof"toappoint",and"onexpirationofthecontract"insteadof"whenthecontractexpires".Byusingthenominalization,itcanhelpthedraftersortranslatorsbringinagreaterdegreeofprecision,objectivityandjustness.
PassivevoiceTheuseofpassivevoiceisoneofthemostmonmethodsofemphasizingtheimpersonalinlegaltexts.Thereasonofusingitisdescribingthingsinanobjectiveandimpartialmanner.Forinstance,representativesanddirecttaxesshallbeapportionedamongtheseveralstateswhichmaybeincludedwithinthisunion.Discourseapproach：
Paralleli：inlegalEnglish,parallelconstructionareextensivelyused,paralleliconsistsofwords,phrases,orclausesofsimilarconstructionandmeaningplacedsidebysidetoachievehighlycohesive,logical,andprecise.
Repetition：Repetitionofwordsandsentences,whenadoptedasatechniqueinlegaltext,itcreatesasemioticsystem,itisusedwithparallelitoemphasizetheequalimportanceofparallelparts.Thesetwousedtogethertomakeaformidablepainofforcefulwritingandachievetherhetoricaleffects,thusenhancingclarityandcoherenceoflegaltext.
Parenthesis：Byparenthesiswemeanaword,phrase,orevenawholesentencemaybeinsertedintoanotherwisepletelyindependentsentence,eitherasafterthought,orforsomeelucidatingpurpose.Theinsertionissetoffbypunctuationdevices,mas,dashes.Itiorthepurposeofbeingaccuratenotforanypossiblemisunderstandingorambiguity.
ThispapertriestoanalysisthestylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishfromthegraphology,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.Fromwhathadbeenmentionedabove,wecanappreciatethedistinctfeaturesoflegalEnglishandunderstandmoreaboutthisspecificfiled.