This post is not specifically on legal language, but several of my students of Legal English at the Universidad Carlos III asked me to summarize for them the basic differences between American and British spelling. I am including here part of a handout that I prepared for them in the event it may be of interest to a wider audience.

In researching this I came across an interesting article in the Daily Mail* that outlines the progression of the supposed acceptance of many American spellings in English worldwide. It maintains that as early as the 1880s English language publications began to prefer American spelling, which became even more popular after World War I. Charts appearing on seemit** actually show the years in which certain American terms supposedly surpassed the British (“gray” vs. “grey;” “flavor” vs. “flavour;” “liter” vs. “litre,” etc.)

Nevertheless, translators, legal professionals and students of legal English should be aware of what are still considered the preferred spellings on each side of the “Pond.” There may be some flux and leeway, and some may not view these as set-in-stone rules, but here is a minimal collection of US vs. UK spellings appearing on the Oxford Dictionaries website*** and in other sources:

Words ending in “-er”/“-re”
American Usage	British Usage
center	centre
fiber	fibre
kilometer	kilometre
liter	litre
theater/theatre	theatre

Words ending in “-or”/“-our”
American Usage	British Usage
behavior	behaviour
color	colour
flavor	flavour
humor	humour
labor	labour
neighbor	neighbour

Words ending in “–ize”/“-ise”
American Usage	British Usage
apologize	apologize/apologise
emphasize	emphasise
organize	organize/organise
recognize	recognize/recognise

Words ending in “-yze”/“-yse”
American Usage	British Usage
analyze	analyse
catalyze	catalyse
paralyze	paralyse

One “l” vs. two “ll”
American Usage (“l”)	British Usage (“ll”)
travel	travel
traveled	travelled
traveling	travelling
traveler	traveller
fuel	fuel
fueled	feulled
fueling	fuelling
counselor	counsellor
American Usage (“ll”)	British Usage (“l”)
enrollment	enrolment
fulfill	fulfil
installment	instalment
skillful	skilful

Words with “e” in American English and “ae”/”oe” in British
American Usage	British Usage
leukemia	leukaemia
maneuver	manoeuver
estrogen	oestrogen
pediatric	paediatric

Nouns ending in “-ense”/“-ence”
American Usage	British Usage
defense	defence
license	licence
offense	offence
pretense	pretence

Nouns ending with “-og”/“-ogue”
American Usage	British Usage
analog/analogue	analogue
catalog/catalogue	catalogue
dialog/dialogue	dialogue

Miscellaneous
American Usage	British Usage
airplane	aeroplane
check	cheque
cozy	cosy
curb	kerb
draft	draught/draft
gray	grey
jail	gaol
mold	mould
plow	plough
program	programme

* Cheyenne MacDonald. “The future is gray for British English: How American Spellings are taking over the world with ‘flavor,’ ‘center’ and ‘defense’ becoming the norm.” Daily Mail, July 27, 2016. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3711638/The-future-gray-British-English-Graphs-reveal-American-spelling-taken-1880s.html

** “The Decline of British English, Visualized” (author: oakstone) https://steemit.com/steemit/@oakstone/the-decline-of-british-english-visualized

*** https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling/british-and-spelling)