Summary

Latin is no longer necessarily an active language of law in the 21st century; however, it is still a language whose terminology plays a significant role in the modern European legal space.

The article reviews the use of Latin terms in the practice of Estonian penal law—based on the judgements in criminal and misdemeanour cases of the criminal review chambers of both the Supreme Court and circuit courts. Judgements of the criminal review chamber of the Supreme Court from 2005–2011 and those of the criminal review chambers of the Tallinn and Tartu circuit courts from the period 2009–2011 are analysed. The author provides a statistical overview of the occurrence of Latin terms in the judgements under review, gives the most frequently encountered Latin terms and some more interesting facts that appeared when analysing their use more closely. In addition, the author touches upon the shared terminological part of the Supreme Court and circuit court judgements, users of terms and terminology related problems.