In a lawsuit over a written contract, the opposing lawyer invokes the doctrine of contra proferentem. What is he getting at? Put simply, this Latin term stands for the notion that a written agreement will be interpreted against the party who drafted it in the event of a question.
The Latin phrase nunc pro tunc means literally “now for then”. Most typically the phrase denotes untimely motions, pleadings or other filings which are offered late (now for then) with an excuse for the lateness.
A point to be made: legal documents, as recently as 50 years ago, were riddled with Latin phrases which had a forbidding quality to them. For better or worse virtually all have disappeared and we are left to the King’s English. Pax vobiscum.
Latin Lovers II
Posted in Queen’s English / Latin Lovers