Lord Justice Lewison ended a recent talk to Clarity members with the above quote by the American linguist, Fred Householder. His Lordship’s warnings of the dangers of poor drafting and his support for plain language legal drafting were compelling, enlivened by his wonderful examples of poor and archaic drafting. He once included a simple obligation to “keep the property in repair” in place of the following clause from an old lease:
“When where and so often as occasion shall require well and sufficiently to repair renew rebuild uphold support sustain maintain pave purge scour cleanse glaze empty amend and keep the premises and every part thereof (including all fixtures and additions thereto) and all floors walls columns roofs canopies lifts and escalators (including all motors and machinery therefor) shafts stairways fences pavements forecourts drains sewers ducts flues conduits wires cables gutters soil and other pipes tanks cisterns pumps and other water and sanitary apparatus thereon with all needful and necessary amendments whatsoever. ”
He also came up with an interesting reason for consumer contracts having led the way in plain language drafting – that it’s easier to produce clear legal writing in documents intended to be signed without alteration. Once parties start negotiating the wording of a complex commercial agreement, it almost inevitably loses some of its clarity.