For questions about legal drafting, and its interpretation.
Questions tagged [legal-writing]
47 questions
51
votes
9 answers
Why do lawyers write contracts with language that is more difficult to understand than other works?
The recent Ig Nobel Prize Winning work "Poor writing, not specialized concepts, drives processing difficulty in legal language" by Martínez, Mollica, and Gibson demonstrates that contracts are written in language that is harder to understand than…
User65535
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50
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5 answers
Why is the structure of the US Code so poor? (And would it even be legal to reorganize it?)
In the process of researching the legality of coil guns in Massachusetts (University engineering project), I stumbled across Cornell's Legal Information Institute, which offers what appears to be a complete rendition of the entire United States…
Derek Ehle
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38
votes
5 answers
Why don't laws have examples?
I've never seen examples listed under a law, but it'd make them a lot less ambiguous and easier to understand.
For example, the 4th amendment (a law I'm familiar with) could've given a few examples of reasonable and unreasonable searches and…
philn
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12
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2 answers
Typo on Lease, Who is Responsible?
The lease agreement for my rental home clearly says that the landlord is responsible for paying for garbage services. However, after asking why I hadn't received our garbage bins yet, the leasing company told me that there was a typo on the lease…
user369
11
votes
2 answers
Origin/purpose of "Language" section in legal agreements
I've noticed a number of legal documents recently (FastMail's ToS, Apple's Developer Agreement, etc.) which include a "Language" section containing more or less the following:
It is the express will of the parties that this agreement and all…
nathan
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9
votes
3 answers
What is a Writ and who can issue one?
What is a Writ and who can issue it? Can a normal person issue a writ on some normal person or should be done on an institution?
I'm asking this with respect to India. Is the meaning the same across all countries?
Newbie
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7
votes
2 answers
Is the Supreme Court's in-house citation style manual publicly available?
SCOTUS uses a distinct in-house citation style which, although it has a lot in common with the Bluebook, is not the same (differing in key places) and is as far as I know unique.
Is the citation style manual used in house for SCOTUS publicly…
ezgranet
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6
votes
1 answer
How to parse 'notwithstanding ... forfeiture is avoided otherwise than by relief'?
[Source:] The landlord argued that the tenant must pay the administration costs based on the covenant[,] given by the tenant in the lease which read as follows:
“To pay all expenses (including Landlord’s solicitors’ costs and surveyors…
user89
6
votes
2 answers
Which other judges, in the Anglosphere, pinpoint paragraphs with ¶?
I agree with judge Michael Reed’s preference for pinpointing paragraphs with ¶, the pilcrow symbol - see block quote below. But which other Anglo-American judges do this? What legal citation methods recommend ¶?
The Oxford Standard cites paragraphs…
user16249
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5
votes
1 answer
Master Service Agreement templates in Japanese?
My company has started doing business with several Japanese clients and we are moving beyond a letter of intent to a master service agreement. We have a standard template we use for all of our clients; however, it's currently in english. I don't…
Charles Hoskinson
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5
votes
1 answer
What is the effect of saying "we reserve our (client's) rights" when writing to another party to a dispute?
In communication between parties to a dispute, the phrase we reserve our client's rights is often included. I've only ever seen this used by solicitors acting for a client in a matter, but I would imagine that it would have the same effect if used…
jimsug
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5
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1 answer
Replacing "shall not", "shall be", "shall" etc. with "must" or other more imperative words
According to the following governmental web page "shall not" should not be used to imply prohibition or imperative, instead "must not" should be used:
Shall and must
Here is an example:
You shall not transfer, assign, or convey Your Account,…
metablaster
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4
votes
3 answers
Disclaimer of Warranty regarding wording of representation, undertaking, warranties and gurantees
Here is a quote from Disclaimer of Warranty clause in Terms of Use of a web site.
We make no representation of any kind, and make no undertaking of any
kind, and disclaim all warranties or guarantees, whether express,
implied, statutory or…
metablaster
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3
votes
5 answers
How do you pronounce and hand-write the symbol §?
How do you pronounce and write by hand the symbol §, which is used extensively in legal writing?
And what do you call the symbol? For example, "#" is called the number symbol or hash. "&" is called "ampersand." Should I call it "the section…
aparente001
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3
votes
1 answer
If you must include all of the natural language prose in a legal document, or if it can be abstracted out
Most legal documents I've seen are multiple pages of large blocks of text, with just a few fill-in-the-blanks here and there, and a signature at the end. If all of the text that is shared between contracts is black, and what is…
Lance Pollard
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