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8 Second Draft 1 (1992-1993)

handle is hein.journals/secnd8 and id is 1 raw text is: Ins mchmfu Voum 8,. 1 Noe br 199 Bulei of -h Lea WingItu t Do we need charters for Plain Language? Note,: The following is judge Hughes' argument for the adoption of a Plain Lan- guage charter by the attending members of the Legal Writing Institute at the Univer- sity of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, this summer. judge Hughes holds degrees from the University of Alabama (B.A.), University of Texas (J.D.) and University of Virginia (LL.M.). Bv JuDGE LYNN N. Huo.s U. S. District Court, Houston, TX Can a charter help solve the problems of legal writing, writing law, and lawyers' writing? Can we legislate clarity, precision, and brevity? Can a long slogan eliminate pressures on the words of the law? Pressures like: Delayed use, contextual shift, complex subject, hostile audience, precedent-to- habit, and economic constraint? Do bills of lading need to have grace? Yes. Yes in the academic journal. Yes in the court house. Yes in the boardroom. Yes in the legislative hall. Niels Bohr, the father of the complex and uncertain science of quantum physics, said, in Danish, Even when the events transcend the limits of classical physics, the account must be given in plain language, suitably supplemented by technical terms. The law's quest for clarity and precision is different but no harder than that of modem physics, The common language of the law is not the product of necessity, precedent, con- vention, or economy, but it is the product of sloth, confusion, hurry, cowardice, igno- rance, neglect, and cultural poverty. Here is a quick checklist to help you decide whether we need charters. - If you believe that substantive un- fairness in consumer contracts will be eliminated by plain language, vote no. If you believe that unfairness will be made obvious, vote yes. * If you believe substantive complex- ity in the law will be eliminated, vote no. If you believe that the necessary com- plexity will be made concise, precise, and lucid, vote yes. 9 If you believe that bad writing is not a problem with lawyers, vote no. If you believe that vague, obscure, pompous, and protracted writing is a prob- lem lawyers share with state legislators, agency administrators, corporateexecutives, - CCOINUM ON Pcx 6 Don't you see? A tongue-in-cheek proposal, page 2 Dovetailing The key to flow in writing, page 3 Another Language? Using ESL to improve teaching of legal writing, page 5 PLAIN LANGUAGE RESOLUTION ADOPTED At the 1992 Conference of the Legal Writing Institute, which has 900 members worldwide, the participants adopted the following resolution: 1. The way lawyers write has been a source ofcomplaint about lawyers for more than four centuries. 2. The language used by lawyers should agree with the common speech, unless there are reasons for a difference. 3. Legalese is unnecessary and no more precise than plain language. 4. Plain language is an important part of good legal writ- ing. 5. Plain language means language that is Clear and readily understandable to the intended readers. 6. To encourage the use of plain language, the Legal Writing Institute should try to identify members who would be willing to work with their bar associations to establish plain language committees like those in Michigan and Texas,

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