The Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 (''4 Geo II. c. 26'') was an Act of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

which made

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national i ...

(instead of Law French and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of ...

) the obligatory language for use in the courts of England and in the court of exchequer in Scotland. The Act followed a medieval law from 1362 (the Pleading in English Act 1362), which had made it permissible to debate cases in English, but all written records had continued to be in Latin. It was amended shortly later to extend it to the courts in Wales, and to exempt from its provisions the "court of the receipt of his Majesty's exchequer" in England. It never applied to cases heard overseas in the court of admiralty. A similar act was passed on 22 November 1650 by the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason. "Ru ...

during the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and exec ...

Act for turning the Books of the Law and all Process and Proceedings in Courts of Justice into the English Tongue
The Act was introduced by the then

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

, Lord King, and came into force on 25 March 1733. It was repealed by the Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879.42 & 43 Vict c 59 A similar Act was passed by the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland ( ga, Parlaimint na hÉireann) was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two cham ...

in 1737, the Administration of Justice (Language) Act (Ireland) 1737.

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Text of Act
Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1730 Language policy in the United Kingdom English law Scots law {{GB-statute-stub

See also

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