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Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language, 3rd Edition

Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language, 3rd Edition

Author: Peter Butt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107607675
Published In: July 2013
Format: Paperback , 379 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Contents
Author

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Modern Legal Drafting provides a comprehensive, authoritative guide to drafting legal documents in effective, plain English. Peter Butt, a leading expert in the field, has fully revised and updated the text for this new edition. It combines a practical focus with the legal principles that underpin the use of plain language in law. This dual practical and academic approach distinguishes it from other books in the field. It includes expanded material on the techniques for achieving a style that is both clear and legally sound. It also includes new material on the challenges and merits of drafting in plain language, and provides many before-and-after examples to help both practising lawyers and students develop their skills. It takes an international approach, drawing upon case law and statutes from England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

• takes a dual practical and academic approach and goes beyond mere drafting techniques to delve into the theory and case law

• provides many before-and-after examples to bring legal drafting to life

• draws upon international case law and statutes, making it relevant in all countries where English is the language of the law

List of panels	xi
Table of statutes and subsidiary legislation	xii
Table of cases	xix
Acknowledgements	li
1 Introduction	1
Traditional legal language	1
Pressures for reform	2
What this book tries to do	4
2 What influences the legal drafter?	5
Introduction	5
Familiarity and habit	6
Conservatism	9
Fear of negligence claims	14
Means of production	17
Professional pressures	21
Straining to avoid ambiguity	22
The mixture of languages	23
Payment by length	32
Payment by time	38
The litigious environment	39
A case study in traditional influences: the United States of America	40
3 How legal documents are interpreted	46
Overview	46
What judges have said about traditional legal drafting	47
The principles of legal interpretation	53
Internal factors	55
External factors	73
Modern restatement of approach to interpretation	80
Implied terms	86
Precedent as an aid to interpretation	88
Interpreting plain-language documents	91
What judges have said about plain English in legal drafting	98
4 Some benefits of drafting in plain English	101
The meaning of ‘plain English’	101
Benefits of plain English in law	104
Conclusion	127
5 How to draft modern documents – Part 1: Structure and form	129
Document structure	129
Form of document: deed or agreement?	135
Layout and design	145
Purpose clauses	152
Tables, plans, graphs and formulas	153
Notes and examples	161
Simplified outlines	163
Numbering systems	165
Lists	166
Standard forms	169
Testing and readability	172
6 How to draft modern documents – Part 2: Particular issues for legal drafters	175
Wordiness and redundancy	175
Excessive particularity	178
Long sentences	179
Obscure language	184
Unusual word order	185
Conditional clauses	187
Peculiar linguistic conventions	189
Consistency of terminology	191
Handling generality and vagueness	193
Syntactic ambiguity	196
Inclusive language	198
Cross-references	202
Drafting in the present tense	204
Deeming	205
Definitions	207
Overuse of capitals	223
Provisos	228
Recitals	231
7 How to draft modern documents – Part 3: Words and phrases	236
Modern, standard English	236
Choose the simpler word or phrase	239
Frequently litigated words and phrases	243
Foreign words and phrases	247
Legalese	248
Jargon	250
Terms of art	257
Overuse of ‘shall’	262
Nouns instead of verbs	276
Overuse of the passive	276
Pronouns	278
Issues with ‘and’ and ‘or’	280
Punctuation and grammar	288
8 Using the modern style	298
Lease: how to bring it to an end if the property is damaged	300
Company memorandum of association: subsidiary objects clause	302
Will: attestation clause	303
Will: distribution in unequal shares	305
New land obligations: buyer's restrictive covenant	307
Building contract: determination by employer	309
Conclusion	316
Further reading	318
Index	320