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Lesson 62.02C1

Legal & Bureaucratic Vocabulary

നിയമപരവും ഭരണപരവുമായ പദാവലി

French officialese has a vocabulary all its own — a register you'll meet on government forms, contracts, and legal documents, thick with fixed formulas that barely surface anywhere else, much like the dense Sanskritized vocabulary Malayalam government orders and legal papers reach for instead of everyday words.

Grammar Comparison

വ്യാകരണ താരതമ്യം

Fossilized legal words: ledit, nonobstant, sous réserve de

French

ledit contrat (the aforementioned contract) / nonobstant les délais habituels (notwithstanding the usual deadlines)

Malayalam

മേൽപ്പറഞ്ഞ കരാർ / പതിവ് സമയപരിധി വകവയ്ക്കാതെ

Legal and administrative French preserves a handful of words that have essentially died out everywhere else — ledit/ladite ('the aforementioned', fusing le/la with dit) and nonobstant ('notwithstanding') survive only in this one register, almost like linguistic fossils. Malayalam legal and government-order language keeps its own set of such fixed formulas — മേൽപ്പറഞ്ഞ ('the aforementioned', literally 'said above') and പ്രസ്തുത ('the said/aforementioned') appear constantly in official Malayalam documents but would sound oddly stiff in ordinary conversation, exactly the way ledit reads only inside a contract.

Vocabulary

വാക്കുകൾ

le plaignant / la plaignanteluh plan-YAHN / lah plan-YAHNT
Malayalam
വാദിvaadi
English
the plaintiff
l'avocat(e)lah-voh-KAH(T)
Malayalam
അഭിഭാഷകൻabhibhaashakan
English
the lawyer
le tribunalluh tree-bew-NAL
Malayalam
കോടതിkodathi
English
the court
le contratluh kohn-TRAH
Malayalam
കരാർkaraar
English
the contract
ledit / laditeluh-DEE / lah-DEET
Malayalam
മേൽപ്പറഞ്ഞmelparanja
English
the aforementioned
nonobstantnoh-nohb-STAHN
Malayalam
വകവയ്ക്കാതെvakavaykkaathe
English
notwithstanding
sous réserve desoo ray-ZERV duh
Malayalam
...എന്ന വ്യവസ്ഥയ്ക്ക് വിധേയമായി...enna vyavasthaykku vidheyamaayi
English
subject to
conformément àkohn-for-may-MAHN ah
Malayalam
...അനുസരിച്ച്...anusaricchu
English
in accordance with
le/la requérant(e)luh/lah ruh-kay-RAHN(T)
Malayalam
അപേക്ഷകൻapekshakan
English
the applicant / petitioner
la clauselah KLOHZ
Malayalam
ഉപവകുപ്പ്upavakupp
English
the clause
entrer en vigueurahn-tray ahn vee-GUHR
Malayalam
പ്രാബല്യത്തിൽ വരികpraabalyathil varika
English
to come into effect
la mise en demeurelah meez ahn duh-MUHR
Malayalam
മുന്നറിയിപ്പ് നോട്ടീസ്munnariyippu notties
English
the formal notice (legal warning)