ABriefStudyoftheLinguisticCharactersinContractualEnglish

毕业论文China has been enjoying rapid development of foreign trade with countries around theworld.When doing business with individuals or other organizations from Englishspeaking or non-English speaking countries,contracts written in English are usuallysigned among all parties involved in the deal in order to ensure the fulfillment ofobligation and the enjoyment of rights which are indicated in the contract.Thus,English contracts have become an indispensable part of today's business life.William Murray once said,"Most of the disputes in the world arise from words."(Net.1.)His comment informs us that language is a key issue full of sensitivities.Though there have already been some books,such as Investigating English Stylewritten by David Crystal and Derek Davy,The Elements of Legal Style written byBryan,A.Garner,Introduction to English Stylistics edited by Wang Zuoliang,DingWangdao,dedicated to the subject which is the same as the author's,yet insufficientpractical use has been addressed.The author of this paper will direct this dissertationto give the readers an overall account of the linguistic features of contractual English,so as to offer some guidelines to contract drafters and contract-drafting learners.2.TheDefinition_ofContractandContractual English2.1 The Definition of ContractIn Law Dictionary,Steven H.Gifts defines the word contract as "a promise,or aset of promises,for breach of which the law gives remedy,or the performance of-2-