The Long Arm of Latin

Because ancient Roman law is the bedrock of Western legal systems, today’s attorneys know a lot of Latin: for example, mens rea (criminal intent, or literally “guilty mind”), bona fide (“in good faith”), and in re (“in the matter of”). Many everyday legal terms are also rooted in the dead language. Alibi is Latin for “in another place,” and exonerate is descended from exonerare (“to unburden”).