Publications

Glossary Mining: Making It Legal
Lee Wright

The first three installment in this series emphasized websites of a technical nature, with an occasional oddity thrown in for good measure. This time the focus is entirely on websites for legal terminology and related resources. Although my own languages are Spanish and English, I have also found a number of sites for French, German, and Portuguese. However, I will start with a survey of monolingual English sites.

ENGLISH RESOURCES

Ballantine's Legal Dictionary and Thesaurus
www.citizenlaw.com/pdf/a.pdf
This is the PDF version of the complete unabridged edition of Ballantine's . The URL takes you to the entries for the first letter of the alphabet, so if you want to see entries for other letters, just change the “a” in the URL to that particular letter. Unless you have a lot of time and paper to spare, do not plan on printing a copy, since the entire PDF version occupies nearly 2,800 pages.

FindLaw
http://dictionary.lp.findlaw.com/index.html
Provides a comprehensive set of legal resources for legal professionals, corporate counsel, law students, businesses, and consumers.

Jurisdictionary
www.jurisdictionary.com/dictionary/A.asp
Provides very detailed definitions of most terms.

MyLawyer.com
www.mylawyer.com/glossary.htm

Nolo Legal Glossary
www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/alpha/A
This site was created by NOLO, a provider of do-it-yourself legal solutions for consumers and small businesses.

Parliamentary Jargon Explained
www.parliament.uk/glossary/glossary.cfm
Provides definitions of the unique terms, expressions, and customs of the British Parliament. Among other things, the site contains information about the various institutions of the British government, including guides to the House of Commons and the House of Lords in nine languages (English, Welsh, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian).

The Cybrary Glossary
http://talkjustice.com/files/glossary.htm
This site is not limited to legal terminology.

The Law.Com Dictionary
http://dictionary.law.com
Provides both short and long definitions for most terms.

The'Lectric Law Library
www.lectlaw.com/def.htm
Contains excellent definitions. Undoubtedly the best all-around resource for legal terminology.

Wikipedia Encyclopedia of Legal Terms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/category:legal_terms
Provides access to a wide range of English legal terminology and other resources. 

Law Firm Glossaries
Morrow Law Offices, LLC.
www.morrowlaw.com/glossary_of_legal_terms.htm
The firm that created this glossary is now defunct, but the information is still good.

Tredway, Lumsdaine & Doyle, LLC.
www.tldlaw.com/glossary.html
A California law firm. 

COURT TERMS 

Center for Individual Freedom
www.cfif.org/htdocs/legal_issues/legal_links/index.htm
This is a good site if you need to consult court decisions. The Center for Individual Freedom is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with a mission “to protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.” 

Cornell University Law School
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode
Contains a nice collection of U.S. codes.

CourtTV Law Center Glossary
www.courttv.com/archive/legalterms/glossary.html
This is a somewhat surprisingly good resource with excellent English definitions.

Emory University School of Law
www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS
Provides access to all kinds of U.S. federal court information and documents (e.g., rulings).

Federal Court Terminology
www.id.uscourts.gov/glossary.htm
www.uscourts.gov/understanding_courts/gloss.htm

Gavel2Gavel.com
www.re-quest.net/g2g/index.htm
This is where you can find codes, statutes, court opinions, etc. 

National Association for Court Management
www.nacmnet.org/glossary.html
A good glossary of court-related terms. 

STATE COURTS

A sizeable number of sites have also been created by state courts and even large county court systems. Here is a small sampling of what is out there in no particular order of usefulness: 

State 

Iowa State Judicial Branch
www.judicial.state.ia.us/Self_Help/common_legal_terms

Michigan State Court
www.courts.michigan.gov/mji/resources/holt/holt.htm

New York State Court System
www.courts.state.ny.us/lawlibraries/glossary.shtml

New York State Court System
(Spanish version)
www.courts.state.ny.us/courthelp/spanish/spTermsGlossary.htm 

Pennsylvania State Court
www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/Aopc/glossary/glossary.htm 

Tennessee State Court
www.tsc.state.tn.us/geninfo/education/Glossary.htm 

Virginia State Court
www.courts.state.va.us/glossary_of_court_terms.html 

County

Ingham County Courthouse, Michigan
www.ingham.org/CC/newpages/court%20Definitions.htm 

Montgomery County Circuit Court, Maryland
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mc/judicial/circuit/glossary/glossary.html 

Shelby County Court, Tennessee
http://co4.shelbycountytn.gov/court_clerks/criminal_court/glossary.html

SPECIALTY SITES

Duhaime's Canadian Legal Dictionary
www.uriaenpdc.org/uriae/juridiq/textes/default.htm

EmployeeIssues.com
http://employeeissues.com/legal_glossary.htm
Contains general information about employee rights in the U.S. , including a glossary specializing in employment law issues. 

Europa Glossary
http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_A_es.htm
A multilingual site (Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish) offering a wide range of terminology that includes the legal field.

Instant Text Glossary Exchange
www.fitaly.com/legal/legalglo.htmA very unusual site providing shorthand ways of reproducing over 1,000 standard legal phrases (e.g., iiamor = it is a matter of record).

JISC Legal Information Service
www.jisclegal.ac.uk/glossary.htm
A free information service in the U.K. offering legal information relating to the use of information and communications technologies.

Kieron Wood's Pages
http://indigo.ie/~kwood/legalterms.htm ( Ireland )
Contains information on Irish legal matters.

Legal Dictionary
www.legal-dictionary.org/a-legal-terms.asp
In addition to complete terms, this site provides a separate glossary of legal abbreviations.

Legal Document Preparation Service
www.legalhelpmate.com/legal-dictionary.aspx
Here is a very unique and interesting concept in glossaries. This site allows you to display terms in a specified subject area, such as torts, criminal law, and constitutional law.

Legal Sites on the Web
www.ih2000.net/ira/legal.htm

Navigador Jurídico Internacional
www.juridicas.unam.mx/navjus/gob
Provides access to legal materials from all over the globe. It is especially good for foreign legislative texts.

Northern Illinois University of Law
http://law.niu.edu/go.cfm?do=Page.view&id=238 

Rutgers Law Library
http://law-library.rutgers.edu/ilg/topical.php
Provides access to a variety of differentlegal sites.

Senior Mag Legal Glossary
www.seniormag.com/legal/glossary/index.htm
A Canadian publication specializing in legal and other concerns pertinent to senior citizens.

Women Are Getting Even
www.wageproject.org/content/statelaw/glossary.php
Contains terminology related to the employment of women (e.g., sex discrimination, etc.).

DOCUMENTS, FORMS, AND PERIODICALS

Biblioteca Legal Latino Americana
www.latinlaws.com
Another good site for Latin American legislative documents.

Hoover Web Design
www.hooverwebdesign.com/business/menu_legal.php
Contains an assortment of downloadable sample legal documents and forms.

The World Law Guide
www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/legis.htm

Provides information on Latin American legislative documents (laws, decrees, codes, etc.).

University of California/Berkeley School of Law's Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
www.law.berkeley.edu/library/iflp/periodicals.html

Vital Records Guide
www.vitalrecordsguide.com
Contains records from all over the U.S.

Criminal and Civil Law 

BitLaw
www.bitlaw.com/patent
Provides excellent coverage of U.S. patent law.

Civil Law
www.constitution.org/sps/sps.htm
This 17-chapter treatise on the subject written by Samuel P. Scott is a major English-language resource on civil law. It was written in 1932, but is still mostly valid today. 

Criminal Justice Brief
www.prenhall.com/cjcentral/cjbrief6e/glossary/a.html
An excellent English-language glossary.

Criminal Law Lawyer Source
www.criminal-law-lawyer-source.com/terms.html
Contains information on criminal law terminology.

Freepatentsonline
http://freepatentsonline.com
Offers an excellent patent search site.

Glossary of Criminal Terms
www.michiganprosecutor.org/define.htm
Another excellent English-language glossary.

McGraw-Hill Online Learning Center
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072564938/student_view0/glossary.html
If criminal investigation happens to be an area of interest, check out this site.

Midwest Paralegal Studies
www.cyberparalegal.com/criminal_glossary.htm
In addition to criminal law, this site provides access to glossaries in 15 other legal fields.

New York School of Law
www.law.nyu.edu/Library/foreign_intl/civilproc.html
This site covers international civil procedure.

Primer on the Civil Law System
www.fjc.gov/library/fjc_catalog.nsf/autoframepage!openform&url=
/library/fjc_catalog.nsf/DPublication!openform&parentunid=
A18D33FC1E8F0EB085256CA30067C10B
Yes, this is the actual URL!! This site contains the PDF version of a 67-page document that was published by the Federal Judicial Center . It is another major English-language resource on civil law.

The Legal Pad's Criminal Law Page
http://members.tripod.com/legalpad/criminal.htm
Contains more information about criminal law, but not a glossary per se.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (general)
www.uspto.gov/go/pac/doc/general 

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Glossary
www.uspto.gov/main/glossary/index.html 

SPANISH RESOURCES

Apuntes—Derecho Civil
www.todoelderecho.com/Apuntes/civil/apuntescivil.htm 

Argentine Law Terminology
http://tododeiure.host.sk/diccionario_juridico.htm 

Boletín Oficial del Estado (España)
www.todalaley.com 

California Judicial Branch
www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/espanol/glosario.htm
The California court system glossary offers simple but accurate Spanish terms and definitions.

Chilean English-Spanish Glossary of Legal Terms
www.geocities.com/susanacr_99/legal.htm 

Colombian Spanish
http://asesoriajuridica.ucauca.edu.co/categoria.php?cat=80 

Contract Law
www.derecho.com/contratos/?gclid=CImhitqvgoYCFUyXJAodQANFig
This site also covers other fields.

Diccionario de Términos Legislativos
www.five.es:8000/diclegis/diccionario.phtml?Clientes_Session=
6fecbac2cc96cc08fd6d17a88075920f
Contains “generic” Spanish legislative terminology.

Guatemalan Ministry of Labor
www.mintrabajo.gob.gt/tgloss 

Lexur Editorial
www.lexureditorial.com
Provides news on recent court rulings and other legal topics.

Leyes Federales de México
www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/index.htm
Mexico 's official site for federal legislative documents.

LLRX.com
www.llrx.com/features/mexcc.htm
Contains an excellent article on the Mexican Civil Code by Professor Jorge Vargas. 

Mexican Legal Terminology
http://mx.geocities.com/licjesustavera/diccionario.htm

 Noticias Jurídicas
http://noticias.juridicas.com
Offers access to current legal news and peninsular Spanish legislation, as well as a variety of scholarly articles on legal subjects.

Peninsular Spanish
www.conpapeles.com/glosario_juridico.php 

Poder Judicial República del Perú
www.pj.gob.pe/djuridico/diccionario.html
The official Peruvian government site. 

Referencia Jurídica
www.cem.itesm.mx/derecho/referencia/diccionario/index.html
Contains a glossary prepared by the Law School of the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
It cites the sources of definitions.

Southern District Court of New York
www.sdnyinterpreters.org/glossary.php
Contains a bilingual Spanish?English glossary for court interpreters. 

Spanish-Language Patent Law
www.iturnet.es/guia_patentes_marcas 

Spanish-Language Wikipedia (Civil Codes)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:C%C3%B3digos_civiles 

Spanish-Language Wikipedia (Civil Law)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:Derecho_civil 

Spanish-Language Wikipedia (General Legal)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:Derecho 

Spanish-Language Wikipedia (Trial Procedures)
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:Derecho_procesal

OTHER SPANISH LEGAL RESOURCES

www.lexjuridica.com/diccionario/aa.htm 

www.uned-derecho.com/diccionario.php 

www.lexjuridica.com/diccionario.php
This last site provides a link to the Law.com English glossary of legal terms previously cited. 

OTHER LANGUAGES 

French

There are significantly more French legal resources than any other language. Most of them, however, are monolingual. These include the following:

www.net-iris.fr/guide-juridique/lexique-juridique

www.portail-juridique.com/pages/glossaire.html

http://perso.orange.fr/jacobus.razob/cico.jurid.htm

www.avocat-online.net/lexique.asp

www.juripartners.com/juri_glossaire.php

www.droit.pratique.fr/dictionnaire.php

BBP Avocats
www.bbp-avocats.com/glossaire-juridique.asp
The glossary of a French law firm.

Dictionnaire du droit privé français
www.dictionnaire-juridique.com
This site is of a more specialized nature. The terminology cites titles of texts where a term is found and includes a bibliography of references. Many definitions are very detailed. The dictionary also contains a list of abbreviations used in legal documents. 

Dictionnaire Juridique
www.lexinter.net/JF/dictionnaire_juridique.htm
This is not really a glossary, but rather provides access to French legal resources that are organized by subject area (e.g., civil/tax/criminal).

Dictionnaire Juridique et Contractuel des Affaires et Projets
www.lawperationnel.com/dictionnaire_juridique/A.htm 

Glossaire Assurance
www.lerepairedesmotards.com/assurance/glossaire.htm
Contains information on French insurance law. 

Immolegal.com
www.immolegal.com/glossaire 

Le Conseil d'État
www.conseil-etat.fr/ce/outils/index_ou02_a.shtml
The Canadian counterpart of the Ministère de la justice site below.

Le Dictionnaire Juridique
www.uriaenpdc.org/uriae/juridiq/textes/default.htm
This is not a dictionary/glossary per se, but a website providing access to French legal documents of all kinds.

Ministère de la justice
www.justice.gouv.fr/motscles/alphabet.htm
The official French government site. 

Petit Lexique de la Justice
www.divorce-famille.net/pages/lexique.htm
This site covers family law (specifically divorce). 

Real Estate Law
www.explorimmo.com/guidprat/gpdroi/pg_09_3.shtml 

Vos Droits.be
www.vosdroits.be/fr/glossaire
A site for Belgian French. 

German

As far as I have been able to ascertain, German-language resources are rather sparse. Here is what I have found so far, but there might be others lurking out there.

www.123recht.net/dictionary.asp?chrLetter=a

www.online-recht.de/vorgl. html?intro

www.lexexakt.de/iraa.php4

 www.rechtslexikon-online.de

www.rolfbecker.de/wettbewerbsrecht/werberechtslexikon_99a.htm
This last site contains advertising/public relations legal terms.

Brazilian Portuguese

Glossário de Direito Comercial
www.unibero.edu.br/download/glossarios/glossario_direitocomercial.doc
A commercial law glossary in Word format that is not 100% accurate. It appears to have been a student project.

INFOJUS
www.infojus.gov.br/portal/glossarioListar.asp 

Just for Laughs
Lawyers and the law are often the target of humor. For a good chuckle, check out: 

The Dumb Network
www.dumblaws.com
Provides a great collection of dumb laws from all of the U.S. states and a couple of dozen foreign countries.

Power of Attorneys
www.power-of-attorneys.com/legal_definitions.htm
A totally non-serious glossary of legal terms. Below are just a couple of the lawyer jokes contained on this amusing site:

1. A defendant was asked if he wanted a bench trial or a jury trial.

“Jury trial,” the defendant replied.

“Do you understand the difference?” asked the judge.

“Sure,” replied the defendant, “That's where 12 ignorant people decide my fate instead of one.”

2. Your attorney and your mother-in-law are trapped in a burning building. You only have time to save one of them. Do you: (1) have lunch? or (2) go to a movie?

Stay Tuned!

More glossaries in other subject fields are headed your way in the coming months.

Lee Wright has been an ATA member since 1975, and is ATA-certified (Spanish?English). He served two terms as an ATA director and four years as editor of The ATA Chronicle . After working eight years as the in-house translator for a major international engineering and construction firm, he started freelancing in 1982. From 1990 to 2004, he was an adjunct associate professor of Spanish translation at Kent State University (Institute for Applied Linguistics). He currently teaches online courses in Spanish>English legal and technical translation for New York University. Contact: lwright3@gmail.com.