28. +Norman Words+ (_e_).-- The Normans introduced into England their own system of law, their own law officers; and hence, into the English language, came Norman-French law terms. The following are a few: +Assize+, +attorney+; +chancellor+, +court+; +judge+, +justice+; +plaintiff+,+ sue+; +summons+, +trespass+. A few remarks about some of these may be useful. The +chancellor+ (_cancellarius_) was the legal authority who sat behind lattice-work, which was called in Latin _cancelli_. This word means, primarily, _little crabs_; and it is a diminutive from _cancer_, a crab. It was so called because the lattice-work looked like crabs’ claws crossed. Our word _cancel_ comes from the same root: it means to make cross lines through anything we wish deleted. --+Court+ comes from the Latin _cors_ or _cohors_, a sheep-pen. It afterwards came to mean an enclosure, and also a body of Roman soldiers. --The proper English word for a _judge_ is +deemster+ or +demster+ (which appears as the proper name _Dempster_); and this is still the name for a judge in the Isle of Man. The French word comes from two Latin words, _dico_, I utter, and _jus_, right. The word jus is seen in the other French term which we have received from the Normans-- +justice+. --+Sue+ comes from the Old Fr. _suir_, which appears in Modern Fr. as _suivre_. It is derived from the Lat. word _sequor_, I follow (which gives our _sequel_); and we have compounds of it in _ensue_, _issue_, and _pursue_. --The +tres+ in +trespass+ is a French form of the Latin trans, beyond or across. _Trespass_, therefore, means to cross the bounds of right.