The judicial function in considering and applying statutes is one of interpretation and interpretation alone. The duty of the court in every case is loyally to endeavour to ascertain the intention of the legislature; and to ascertain that intention by reading and interpreting the language which the legislature itself has selected for the purpose of expressing it. (Source)
1. What's this phenomenon called? Is this placement unusual or due to my English's primitiveness?
2. Why not situate the adverb after 'endeavour', or even split the infinitive 'to endeavour' and wedge it in between? What are the similarities and differences due to a different position?
Answer
It is (merely) an attempt to avoid the bugbear of a "split infinitive", i.e. "to loyally endeavor".
https://www.englishforums.com/English/BernardShawSplitInfinitive/wjlmg/post.htm
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