A Glossary of Constitutional Terms: English / Nepali

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prosecuted'! That suggests that the perpetrators have a duty to beprosecuted. That sign should actually say, 'They will be prosecuted'.The importance of words like 'shall' can also be illustrated by thisstory about the Kenyan Constitution. The Kenyan ConstituentAssembly members, charged with drafting a new Constitution,had the difference between 'shall' and 'may' drilled into them bylegal advisers but rejected 'must' as not being legal enough. Havingaccepted that 'may' implies that someone has a choice, they wouldnot accept 'no person may' (which means that no one has anyoption to; in other words, they must not) and insisted on 'no personshall.'What is a translator working on the new Nepali Constitutionto do about 'shall'? It is not for the translator to make decisionsabout the legal meaning of something. There being no distinctionin Nepali similar to that between 'the government will' and 'thegovernment shall' in English, it would be best to use whatever hasbecome customary in Nepali legal language to reflect 'shall' whenthat is found in English. 'May' should be translated by a word thatindicates a choice or discretion.Other examples of slightly—but perhaps importantly—differentphrases are:In consultation with;After consultation with;On the recommendation of;With, and in accordance with, the advice, as in 'The head ofstate shall act only with, and in accordance with, the adviceof the National Executive Council' (from the Papua NewGuinea Constitution again).VIIA Glossary of Constitutional Terms
Drafters usually stick with the older phrases and words like thoseabove because if a word in a statute has been interpreted by a court,drafters and lawyers will assume that the word will be given thesame meaning by a later court, at least when dealing with a statuteon a similar topic. This practice of using old language tends toperpetuate somewhat out of date English.LatinismEnglish law is not much based on Roman law, but because of Englishhistory rather a lot of Latin phrases (and occasionally mediaevalFrench phrases) appear in law, though less often in statutes. Amongthese are:ad hoc (which means literally 'to that' and refers to a body or a rulefor a particular occasion, like an ad hoc committee set up for aparticular matter);habeas corpus (which means 'may you have the body' and refers to aspecific legal procedure to investigate a suggestion that a person isdetained against the law);nolle prosequi (which means 'do not prosecute' and is a special processin some countries under which prosecutions for criminal cases arestopped);VIIIquo warranto (which means 'by what warrant or permission' andrefers to a specific legal procedure in the Supreme Court broughtinto Nepal from India, a procedure abolished in the mid-twentiethcentury in England).A Glossary of Constitutional Terms
Page 4: A Glossary ofConstitutional TermsLe
Page 10: AcknowledgementsThe International I
Page 13 and 14: Avoidance of PunctuationDrafters of
Page 15 and 16: The Use of Sexist LanguageAnother a
Page 17: Another is the word 'deemed': for e
Page 21 and 22: Various courses in simple legal lan
Page 24 and 25: Constitutional Terms*Signifies that
Page 26 and 27: 10. accountable [to]adj.A slightly
Page 28 and 29: 24. advance vi. and vt. Make progre
Page 30 and 31: 42. alter vt. Make changes; modify
Page 32 and 33: 59. appointment n. An act of nomina
Page 34 and 35: 74. Attorney-General*n. phraseThe c
Page 36 and 37: 94. board n. A group of people cont
Page 38 and 39: 112. censure vt. and n. Reprimand b
Page 40 and 41: 130. Commander-in-Chief* n. phrase1
Page 42 and 43: 142. comply vt. Act in accordance w
Page 44 and 45: 158. consistent [with]adj.Conformin
Page 46 and 47: 173. constitutionality n. Acting in
Page 48 and 49: 190. costs n. When used in plural i
Page 50 and 51: 205. defamation* n. The act of defa
Page 52 and 53: 220. derogate [from] vt. To lessen
Page 54 and 55: 236. discretion n. The power or fre
Page 56 and 57: 255. emblem n. A special design or
Page 58 and 59: 276. equal protection ofthe laws* n
Page 60 and 61: 292. executive n. In C, likely refe
Page 62 and 63: 307. fiscal adj. Relating to public
Page 64 and 65: {324. government, cooperativen.325.
Page 66 and 67: 338. impartial adj. Not favouring o
Page 68 and 69:
355. inhuman adj. Lacking normal hu
Page 70 and 71:
369. interpretation n. The act of e
Page 72 and 73:
389. lawful adj. Allowed by law; le
Page 74 and 75:
407. magistrates n. Members of the
Page 76 and 77:
418. media n. Pl. of medium; in C,
Page 78 and 79:
437. nation n. A large community of
Page 80 and 81:
450. non-discriminationn.Treating p
Page 82 and 83:
466. ordinance* n. Lesser law than
Page 84 and 85:
482. part-time adj. For less than t
Page 86 and 87:
499. polling n. Conducting of publi
Page 88 and 89:
515. present adj. and v. (adj.) (Of
Page 90 and 91:
530. progressive adj. Moving forwar
Page 92 and 93:
544. province n. A territory govern
Page 94 and 95:
562. reconciliation n. Re-establish
Page 96 and 97:
579. religiousdenomination n.phrase
Page 98 and 99:
593. reservations n. In India, the
Page 100 and 101:
608. rule of law* n.phraseThe condi
Page 102 and 103:
623. self-incriminationn.The act of
Page 104 and 105:
637. society n. The totality of soc
Page 106 and 107:
649. subject to* vt. andn.(vt.) Req
Page 108 and 109:
663. tax* n. and vt. Levy or money
Page 110 and 111:
679. transition n. The process or p
Page 112 and 113:
698. verdict n. The decision of a c
Page 114:
Appendix: Names of Parts ofLegislat
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A Glossary of Constitutional Terms: English / Nepali

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