ESL Students

Thousands of students study law in Canada who do not speak English as a first language.

This presents an additional challenge to these students, quite apart from studying the law itself.

Mentor Law is acutely aware of this problem and is here to help. First of all, this barrier is not insurmountable. No matter what your first language is, there is no legal term, legal principle or caselaw that cannot be explained in plain, clear English.

Let's look at an example students will likely struggle with.

In criminal law, all students must learn the phrase "beyond a reasonable doubt." It is not self evident what those four words mean. Moreover, translating each word separately, will make no sense at all.

The phrase is best understood in its totality, not by parsing each word.

Criminal law requires what is called a "standard of proof." This refers to an extremely high level of proof required to prove an accused guilty of a crime. A simple way to understand this is by seeing the phrase in percentage terms. A judge or jury must be 90 to 95 per cent sure an accused committed a crime. The law does not require 100 per cent certainty because that is not humanly possible. However, it does require close to absolute certainty.

So if a judge finds-based on the evidence or lack of evidence-that an accused is likely or probably guilty, that is not sufficient. The standard of proof has not been met; consequently the accused must be acquitted (found innocent).

If that explanation helps you move forward, please take a look at other services offered through Mentor Law.

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