Department of Justice
www.justice.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Institutional links
The Department
Newsroom
Resources
Transparency
LATIN EXPRESSIONS
Special effort was made in the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985 to eliminate the use of Latin in statutes. Expressions in Latin and other foreign languages should also be avoided in regulations, wherever possible. They can almost always be replaced by an English expression, as demonstrated by the following examples:
mutatis mutandis
with any modifications that the circumstances require
e.g.
such as; for example
prima facie
… is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof …; is evidence[1]
However, this general rule does not apply to Latin words and expressions that have been
accepted in the English language; for example, "quota"
, "quorum"
, "maximum"
and
"minimum"
. Other exceptions to the rule are ex parte and in camera,
both to be written in italics.
Footnote
[1] See subsection 25(1) of the Interpretation Act and Elmer A. Driedger, The Composition of Legislation, 2nd ed. (Ottawa: Department of Justice, 1976) at 268-269.
