Latin Phrases Law Students Should Know, But Likely Don’t:

What Latin phrases should law students learn — perhaps by way of my mentioning them in class (I do a little language riddle in class for a couple of minutes once a week)? I’m not looking for phrases that are legal terms of art that they’ll learn in the relevant class, such as res judicata, habeas corpus, and the like.

Rather, I have in mind things like e.g., i.e., viz., prima facie, sui generis, inter alia, in camera, et al., and such — common phrases that arise in many areas of the law, yet ones that many incoming law students may not know, and that they won’t learn in any of their other classes. Students should understand these phrases, and know how to use them right (though in some situations the best solution is not to use them at all; for instance, better say “among other things” than “inter alia”).

Please pass along your suggestions in the comments. Again, please focus on phrases that are common enough in the law to be worth mentioning, but that are likely not to be known to nonlawyers (or, as with e.g. and i.e., likely to be confused by nonlawyers).

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