Legal language is language that relies on archaic language, poor grammar and sentence structure, repetition, excessive language, and legalese. The predicate for the use of legal language seems to be that parties will be represented by lawyers, and their lawyers will understand the documents even if their clients cannot. While such an assumption may contribute to the promotion of legal employment, it does not seem any more justifiable than having legal documents drafted in Arabic, expecting parties to use people familiar with Arabic to explain the contents of the documents to their clients. Since legal documents govern the rights and obligations of the parties for whom they were drafted, it seems entirely appropriate that those parties be able to read and understand them. The use of legal language has been criticized by the courts: „[It`s] a document that has been examined full of legal language and can make a Byzantine scholar proud.“ 4 Legal language in contracts allows lawyers to communicate as clearly as possible to avoid misunderstandings, confusion or debate. Since contracts are binding legal agreements that set the tone for disputes, it`s always a good idea for lawyers to use legal language instead of standard language for ultimate accuracy. Another common way to draft in legal language is through the use of the phrase „provided, however, that…“ This sentence serves to introduce an exclusion of the idea immediately expressed above. Although this whole sentence can be replaced with a period and followed up with the beginning of a new sentence with the same effect, the use of this term allows the rapporteur of the conclusions to establish his credentials as a lawyer and, as a side effect, allows him to formulate common sentences in abundance. The elimination of this sentence can be tested by placing a period before „provided, however, that…“ “ and determining that its absence does not affect the meaning of the paragraph, but only serves to increase its readability. If you read older contracts and documents, letters, and converse with people, you will encounter legal language in many forms. Great article.
Make more posts about legal language (Please write a few sentences with the words so I can better understand how to use them) Thank you. After that, you might want to jump into my free legal design course and remove the legal language from your system. The use of legal language is maintained through the reuse of form documents in legal language. New lawyers who are tasked with using standard documents are instilled in the use of archaic language, repetitions and sentences. It has been found that there is no economic incentive to „clean up“ these documents by spending more time solely on readability.5 Even lawyers who are aware of the use of legal language often avoid hastily removing that language to submit a document for distribution. Will Rodgers famously remarked: „If I had had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. Translated from legal German into plain English, this sentence simply refers to the „Date“ line, which often follows a signature. „Writing in simple English does not necessarily mean abandoning sophisticated use of language and interfering with conversational informality. On the contrary, it takes sophistication to create consistent, clear and readable documents. On the other hand, this „specialized language“ of lawyers, the „legal language,“ is perhaps even easier to write because it is based on conventions rather than thought. At best, however, the result is wordy, pompous and boring. In the worst case, this is incomprehensible.
6 Any real estate lawyer who believes that the use of legal language is benign should be tasked with reviewing and deciphering the language in many securitized financing documents. There are many examples in such documents where a sentence can span an entire page.11 It is often impossible to understand the content of a provision with a single reading. Everything is relative, of course, but if you apply the same principles, you can easily double or triple the length of your correspondence. Every extra word you add helps develop your legal language, so let`s embrace the process using as many divided commas, modifiers, and infinitives as possible. Court documents are often the last to be updated to avoid legal language, even though lawyers (who aren`t really quick as a profession) have gone beyond this style of writing. There is no criterion for legal review called „would the client read this or throw it in the trash.“ As a result, we think we are fine, write the same way, and voila – we have just developed the habit of writing in legal language. Read this article to learn more about where to find legal language. Using the Latin phrase, which, by the way, most lawyers don`t even pronounce correctly, can make things a lot easier. Judges know exactly what these phrases mean, and there is less room for imaginative interpretations by even the most „creative“ lawyers.
In other words, what many call „legal language“ can be the quickest and most concise way to convey a particular meaning or idea. Not using the phrase may require lengthy recitation, which may be more prone to misinterpretation. A picture is worth a thousand words – and the clever use of certain legal phrases can make an additional 998 words obsolete. Estate planning is one area where these phrases are useful. A surprising number of people don`t think much about naming other beneficiaries, those who receive their assets after their death when their primary beneficiary (usually a spouse or children) predeceased them. But because life is unpredictable, it`s a good idea to have an alternative plan in case some loved ones die before you. Planning for the various contingencies that might occur and instructing what should happen in each of them would require long and complex chatter. However, some legal formulations can make this simple and simple.
The terms „per stirpes“ and „per capita“ are the simplest and most concise way to deal with this particular situation. Per stirpes means „through the branch“ in Latin and per head means „through the head“. These strange but relatively concise terms describe how the property is distributed when the main beneficiaries die before the testator. Suppose a woman has three children and wants each to inherit 1/3. However, after making her will, one of the children dies before her. If the woman`s will says, „All my property will be divided equally among my children,“ then the result is clear. Per stirpes demands that his two surviving children receive 1/3 each. The last 1/3 is divided equally between the children of their deceased child. If, on the other hand, the woman`s will says, „All my property will be divided equally among my children, per capita,“ the result is quite different. All of the woman`s property would be divided equally among her two surviving children. The children of their deceased child would receive nothing.
Her use of the term „per stirpes“ or „per capita“ makes the woman`s intention perfectly clear. This leaves little room for arguments about the interpretation of words. This is an example of why so-called „legal“ language sometimes serves an important purpose, even if it can be terribly frustrating. Why, beyond the question of enforcement, is it necessary to draft documents that are far from general English? Why does misuse of the English language with consecutive sentences and unnecessary repetitions make a document legal? In surveys of judges and lawyers, the vast majority of respondents chose plain English over legal language.10 In addition to being a bad thing, there are a few simple tips you can use to avoid accidentally slipping into legal language: However, this doesn`t have to be the case. The use of legal language is only one way to achieve this. Simply quoting previous decisions is an excellent alternative to using legal language. It is also more descriptive and allows for a more direct comparison with the case a lawyer wants to refer to. Similarly, Canada`s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) requires organizations to be transparent to the public about their data-handling practices, which means that privacy policies must be clear and illegal. Each profession has its own jargon, but most professions rely on modern English as a basis. Lawyers specializing in real estate and other transactions, those who draft legal documents, seem to be the exception.
This is a strange phenomenon, as most litigators, those lawyers who only write for other lawyers (i.e. judges), seem to have little difficulty writing in modern English.
