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Simple English definitions for legal terms
court hand
Read a random definition: prescribable
A quick definition of court hand:
Court hand: A way of writing used by English court clerks in the past. They would write words in a short and simple way so that they could write faster and keep things organized. They also used Latin words sometimes. But, in the 18th century, people decided to stop using court hand and Latin so that everyone could understand the court records better. Now, reading old court records can be hard because they are written in a special way that not many people know how to read.
A more thorough explanation:
Definition: Court hand is a style of writing used by English court clerks. It involves abbreviating and contracting words according to a set of common principles to maintain brevity and uniformity. This type of writing was banned in the early 18th century to make court records more accessible to non-lawyers.
Example: Before the 18th century, court clerks used court hand to write legal documents. This made it difficult for non-lawyers to understand the records. For example, instead of writing "the defendant," court hand would abbreviate it to "def't."
Explanation: The example shows how court hand involves abbreviating words to maintain brevity. This made it difficult for non-lawyers to understand legal documents, which is why court hand was eventually banned.