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View Full Version : Why are Spanish legal and official documents "coded"?


Culebronchris
29th November 2009, 02:06 PM
I've often wondered why things like insurance policies, legal documents and notices relating to motoring offences read like something from a couple of centuries ago. Is there any reason for it other than habit?

On another forum someone is asking what this phrase means:

"Es gracia que espero merecer del recto proceder de V.I. cuya vida guarde Dios muchos aņos"

Apparently it's something that a chap added to the bottom of a denuncia to the Town Hall. It looks a bit like something Cervantes might have penned.

fawlty
30th November 2009, 05:38 PM
Yes, very olde worlde. Having said that, the UK is similar in many respects. Archaic legal jargon (much of it Latin based) still abounds for example, not to mention the plain speaking Inland Revenue!

Perhaps our friends from other countries don't have the same sort of thing. It would be interesting to know, but I suspect it may be international.