"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:46:27 -0000, "Jerry."
wrote:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 13:34:08 -0000, "IMM" wrote:

snip

Lawyers make the law complicated. Even new laws still hereunto's and
other
confusing old English They are scum.

Funnily enough I agree with you.

If you pull out a copy of an EU Directive from their website and load
it into Word, then delete every instance of "whereas" it can be read
easily.


The problem with writing law is to make the written meaning mean what was
meant to mean and not get interpreted to mean some other meaning IYSWIM.

Yes I know. What is amusing about the Directives is that the preamble
is written as one long sentence. If you take out every "whereas" and
punctuate everything becomes quite clear.


Oh right, I see what you mean now... Hum, I'll take your word for it ! :~)


Lawyers that I have dealt with commercially in recent years have to
kept on a very tight rein to avoid them turning a perfectly simple
exercise into a major Ben Hur with billing to match.
A tight leash is definitely recommended.


The same problem occurs when writing a legal contract, you would not
thank
them for sloppy (legal) wording if it cost you tens of thousands of
pounds
in a contract that was found to be legally worthless by a better lawyer.

Of course not,. When I do a legal contract, I agree all of the
business points with the other party, and only then involve the
lawyers to check the construction and legal standing.


Not quite sure what you really mean here.