What language is this OED entry in?

I came across this citation in the OED entry1 for fag (4th meaning, "a knot in cloth"):

1464 Act. 4 Edw. IV, c. i, ― En cas que ascune autiel diversite ou Rawe, Skawe, cokell ou fagge, aveigne destre en ascun part des ditz draps.

I think that refers to an act of law as opposed to a play but, either way, what language is that? Presumably some variant of English but which? It seems far closer to French than modern English. What I understand of it, I glean from French and Spanish. My English doesn't help at all.

So, what is this English (?) called? Based on the year, I assume it must come under the general heading of Middle English, but I can make far less sense of it that I can of, for example, the Canterbury Tales. Is this a different language? Not Middle English at all?


1 Available here, if you have access.


It's Law French, the normal language of law in England until well after 1464.

The words Rawe, Skawe, cokell [and] fagge are evidently English words, not French ones, presumably either because there weren't corresponding French terms (at least in Law French), or because it was important to cover every case in this statute.

So, while the rest of the text is in Legal French, it still serves as a valid example of the usage of the English word fag since this is an English use of an English word in an English law for English people. That the rest of the law happens to be writtren in French doesn't change this.