ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a historical background of legal discourse and legal translation in the English and Arabic traditions. The chapter presents the categories of legal translation with respect to functions and categories of legal discourse. It reviews the approaches of legal translation in the Western tradition. The chapter also explains the interface between general translation theory and legal translation, and hence presents different views on the most common theories which researchers have opted to use for the transfer of legal language. English legal discourse goes back to Ancient Greece with philosophers such as Socrates and Plato advocating freedom and democracy. The existence of legal discourse in the Arabic tradition dates back to Babylon with the establishment of the code of Hammurabi. Legal translation has long been playing a vital role in communication both nationally and internationally.
