Terminological controversies over a legal hendiadys: the ‘true and fair’ case

In general English, there is no need to describe anything as both fair and true. Instead, the two adjectives are strictly joined in the accountancy domain. Ultimately, the use of these terms seems to raise old well-known problems regarding rhetoric. The couple finds its foundations in literary contexts in the 16th century, it soon became a hendiadys in the following centuries, and then it was a codified ‘formula’ in the specialised financial field. A discussion over the need for an interpretation of the terms used by auditors in expressing their opinion appears in the accounting literature. Nevertheless, this does not change the inherent and long-standing vagueness and ambiguity of the undefined expression true and fair view, which has been used since it was introduced in the 1948 UK Companies Act. The term has a legal origin in the 18th century, and it appears to have been translated into a legal definition concerning corporate accountability in the 20th century. The aim of this brief contribution is that of analysing the possible linguistic ‘ordinary’ contexts where the hendiadys true and fair was born and exploring the meaning of the same ‘formula’ during the centuries in non-financial contexts. The analysis of the hendiadys from the non-financial to the financial context, following steps of the etymological and lexical research methodology, might give a support to a more complete definition of the very complex concept of the true and fair view in the Fourth Council Directive.