As the leitmotif of the current collection is variation in legal discourse, each chapter applies its own lens to specific linguistic items in a diverse spectrum of legal genres either cross-linguistically or diachronically. To this end, these endeavours not only successfully interpret the historicist dynamics of the individual legal genres, but also prompt social accountability towards law enforcement. In addition, the studies of temporal-spatial variations incorporate morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, representing a holistic landscape of language evolution. In this sense, how legal language evolves is compatible with the evolution of language in general and to some extent can be generalised to variations in other genres. Last but not least, the excellent introduction and application of 'ever more sophisticated computational tools' has transcended the 'original scope to encompass a much broader range of topics and methodologies' (p. 17). Throughout the book, a variety of auto-annotated corpus tools, language processers and statistical computer software are deployed to cater for the objectives of each study. Readability is enhanced with clearly illustrated tables, diagrams and figures, as well as with updates on technical innovations in corpus linguistics.