Latin pronunciation: Ultra Vires

[Johnny_Angel]

@Spoons

I well remember a first-year class at law school where a classmate, who had obviously studied Classical Latin at some point, tried to correct the pronunciation of the professor. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong professor to correct. “Tirade” doesn’t begin to describe the raking over the coals my classmate got over the importance of using the traditional Law Latin pronunciations. It managed to be both educational and entertaining for the rest of us.

I suppose I’m meant to take away the moral that a smartass was taken down a peg. Of course, legal Latin established tradition, and there is a need for consistency to maintain communication. But given that legal Latin is often charged with being a kind of shibboleth and way of befuddling other people, I can’t help but read this reaction as defensive. God forbid anybody should use Latin to do to lawyers what lawyers use Latin to do to other people.