How can Latin help me in my government class or pre-law class?

Answer 1

Great question! Easy! All of these words pertaining to government and/or law are Latin just the way they are. Latin was the language of law until fairly recently. And of course, our government system was passed to us from the Greeks and the Romans prior to the Europeans. Here are a few examples of government/law terms that are Latin as they are:

Veto: I forbid

Senator: Senator from the Latin word “senex” which means old man

Alibi: Al=other. ibi=there

Modus Operandi M.O.: Method or mode of operating

Mens rea: guilty mind

Republic: Re=thing/matter. Publico=public

Vox populi: voice of the people

Democracy: this one is actually Greek, not Latin. demo=people. cracy=rule by

pro bono: pro=for bono=good pubico=public.

There are thousands more…Latin is extremely useful for most all fields of study.