1) Words beginning with “here-”(“this”)

Table 2: here-

hereby by this means

herein in this document

hereof of, or concerning with

hereafter in the future

hereinafter later in this official document

heretofore until now; before this time; hither to

herewith with this document

2) Words beginning with “there-”(“that”)

Table 3: “there-”

thereto in addition to

thereon upon that

thereupon as a result of that

thereafter from that time on

thereby with the result that something else happens

therefrom from that place, thing etc.

thereof concerning something that has just been mentioned

theretofore before or until that time

3) Words beginning with “where-”(“which”)

Table 4: “where-”

whereby by that

whereon after which

wherefore why

whereas because

whereat as a result 

wherein in which place

whereof old use of which

2.2 The Authority of Legal English

Law embodies the ruling group’s will and is a tool to compel every citizen to act and practice in some determined ways, so legal English must have the power to make people understand clearly what is allowed and what is not, which consists of the authority of legal English. Consequently, people’s social performance will become standardized.

2.2.1 The Usage of Modal Verbs

It is clear that in legal English documents, the use of modal verbs is frequent. Among the thirteen modal auxiliaries, there are five most common modal verbs which are “shall”, “must”, “may”, “may not( shall not)”, and “should”. They play an important role in imposing obligations or rights. It is useful for us to be familiar with these five modal verbs. Here we will mainly discuss “shall” and “may” in detail.

1) May 

There are two explanations of “may” in legal English. First, it has the meaning of “ be allowed to or have permission to”. Second, it has the meaning of “be in some degree likely to”. Here are some examples for the first meaning:

(1)“中华人民共和国法律和中华人民共和国缔结或者参加的国际条约没有规定的，可以适用国际惯例。” 

“International practice may be applied on matters of which neither the law of the People’s Republic of China nor any international treaty concluded or acceded to by the People’s Republic of China has any provisions.”

(2)“人民法院审理案件，其中一部分事实已经清楚，可以就该部分先行判决。” 

“If some of the facts in a case being tried by the People’s Court are already evident, the Court may pass judgment on that part of the case first.”