Friday, February 26, 2016

Essential law for journalists

Dame Janet Smith and her team of close to thirty helpers have largely used plain English in the Savile/Hall report. One bit of legalese, gravamen, creeps in - first spotted in the early 17th century in ecclesiastical law,  denoting the formal presentation of a grievance. In late Latin it literally translates as 'physical inconvenience'.

It now means the essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation.

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