One of the reasons the law is often written in complicated or hard-to-understand language is
because of the way law develops
. In the United States, we use something called stare decisis
What makes legal language difficult?
One of the main reasons why legal language is sometimes difficult to understand is that it is often very different from ordinary English. … Legal jargon comprises
words used by lawyers
, which are difficult for non-lawyers to understand. Jargon words range from near-slang to almost technically precise words.
What is the problem of legal language?
“Many legal documents are
unnecessarily lengthy
, overwritten, self-conscious and repetitious. They consist of lengthy sentences and involved sentence construction. They are poorly structured and poorly designed. They suffer from elaborate and often unnecessary cross-referencing.
Why is the law so hard to understand?
It is hard to understand the law
because there are so many variations of the law and fifty different states with laws
. It is harder to understand the law when the person explaining it to you is not a lawyer or worse, wrong. You don’t go to law school for fun. … You go to law school to understand how the law works.
Why is legalese so bad?
Yes,
legalese is bad
. Legalese makes statements difficult to understand by using legal jargon, Latin, or overly complicated language. Using legalese could make your contracts and policies void in a legal dispute, as it obscures the meaning of a given document.
Who uses legal language?
Legal language means a language used by
the persons connected to the legal profession
. The language used by the lawyer, jurist, and the legislative drafts man in their professional capacities. Law being a technical subject speaks through its own register.
What is the importance of legal language?
The legal language is used
to draft law related documents like contracts, licenses, indictments or subpoenas, briefs, judgments
, laws of Parliament, case reports and legal correspondence, etc. It holds high importance in the country as its main provisions are written in such languages.
What are the problems of legal language in drafting?
Additionally, the “ambiguity problems” are of two types- “semantic” and “syntactic”. Allen states that “
Syntactic uncertainties within and between sentences
are regarded as being the structural problems of legal drafting”.
Will can be made of?
A
Will can be made at any time in the life of a person
. There is no restriction on how many times a Will can be made by a testator. However, only the last Will made before his death is enforceable. … It should be attested by two or more witnesses, each of whom should have seen the testator signing the Will.
What are the main sources of law?
- Sources of law are the origins of laws, the binding rules that enable any state to govern its territory.
- International Treaties.
- European Community Law.
- Legislation.
- Case Law.
- Equity (England only)
- Parliamentary Conventions (UK mainly)
- Customs (England & Commonwealth Nations)
Why are legal documents so hard to read?
Because most contracts are negotiated, they are often the work product of multiple authors with different agendas and styles.
Lack of coordination and last minute edits
all contribute to hard-to-read documents.
Why are old documents so hard to read?
Generally,
older records are harder to read
. Documents from the 19th and 20th centuries mainly use the words and writing styles we’re used to today, so they don’t present too many problems.
How do you read and understand legal documents?
- Tip #1: Read EVERYTHING. …
- Tip #2: Check Every Reference. …
- Tip #3: Question Everything, Especially Things That Don’t Make Sense. …
- Tip #4: Close Any Open Ended Terms.
How can I stop legalese?
Your legalese-free prose should consist of short, clear sentences and short paragraphs of two to four sentences.
The passive voice is to be avoided
. Let us rephrase that: always use the active voice. It is more powerful and clearly identifies your firm as the actor whose successes are being highlighted.
Why are legal terms so confusing?
One of the reasons the law is often written in complicated or hard-to-understand language is because of the way law develops. In the United States, we use something called stare decisis. … Another reason the law is so complicated is
that sometimes lawyers will disagree about what a word or phrase means
.
Why do lawyers use legalese?
They
read the written rulings from the old cases and use them to guide their decisions in the current ones
. This helps to bring predictability and consistency to the law. It also makes it easier for lawyers to predict the outcome of similar cases they are handling for clients.
