ABSTRACT. Since 1500 the influence of Latin began to wane and people began to write administrative documents in their own dialect rather than in Latin. Carter holds that in the decades immediately following the Norman conquest, French was not used as the language of law. French became the language of record for much of official life through the late 14th century. Judge notes that since 1945, the newly independent ex-colonial states gained access to the various international organizations and chose to use French to communicate with the outside world.