The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of usage of legal terms in unusual types of discourse. The scientific novelty of the research is seen in the specification of the functions that perform the units of special nomination used in a literary text. The research is based on the books of modern American writer and so-called author of «legal thrillers» J. Grisham. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that the units of legal discourse in a literary text serve different purposes than in law context. They help the author to describe characters and actions. Legal terms also help the reader to imagine the atmosphere of court sessions and immerse himself in the world of fiction. Terminological units get symbolic meaning, the contextual dependence of their meanings increases, their lexical compatibility changes, but all this happens on the basis of their original terminological meaning.
For citation: Luttseva M.V. Features of English legal terminology in a literary text (based on the works of J. Grisham), Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2024, iss. 4, pp. 75—81.