In nonlegal as well as legal texts it is customary to italicize foreign words and expressions. But when dealing with legal Latin that’s not always the case. Certain Latin expressions are in such common use that they are considered part of the legal English lexicon. After having checked several legal style guides (Blue Book; Cambridge Law Journal, California Style Manual, among others), I’m sharing below my lists of “don’t italicize” and “do italicize” Latin terms.
Note: There may be no hard fast rules here. Several terms appeared as “do italicize” in some sources and as “don’t italicize” in others. These include: ab initio, in loco parentis, caveat emptor and non compos mentis, etc.
Latin terms NOT italicized | |||
actus reus addendum ad hoc ad hominem ad infinitum ad litem ad valorem ab initio a fortiori alias alter ego amici curiae amicus curiae anno Domini antebellum a priori apropos arguendo assumpsit bona fide caveat emptor certiorari compos mentis consortium corpus | corpus delicti corpus juris de facto de jure de minimis de novo dicta dictum duces tecum ex contractu ex delicto ex officio ex parte ex post facto forum non conveniens habeas corpus in camera in extenso in extremis in forma pauperis in futuro in limine in loco parentis in pari delicto | in pari materia in personam in propria persona in pro. Per. in rem in situ inter alia inter vivos in toto ipso facto lis pendens mala in se mala prohibita malum in se malum prohibitum mandamus mens rea modus operando nisi prius nolle prosequi nolo contendere non compos mentis non obstante veredicto nunc pro tunc obiter dictum | onus pendente lite per annum per diem per stirpes prima facie pro bono publico pro rata pro tempore quantum meruit quid pro quo quo warranto ratio decidendi res judicata respondeat superior sine qua non stare decisis status quo ante sua sponte sui generis ultra vires verbatim viva voce voir dire
|
Latin terms that should be italicized (there are dozens more) | |||
a posteriori a vinculo matrimonii ad damnum ad diem animus causa mortis conditio sine qua non coram nobis/vobis | cum testamento annexo damnum absque injuria de bene esse duces tecum ejusdem generis ex curia in curia in perpetuum | in re inter se lex domicilii lex locus contractus lex non scripta locus delicti locus in quo mala fide ne plus ultra parens patriae | per curiam post facto pro hac vice quo animo sensu stricto sub judice ut infra ut supra vide ut supra
|
Léxico Jurídico Español-Inglés 
It’s amusing that bona fide is not italicized but mala fide is. I understand why (i.e., bona fide is a common expression in everyday English, but mala fide is not) – not to mention the fact that language rules aren’t logical anyway. But it just goes to show how tricky language rules can be!
LikeLike