Re: intelligibilty and clarity of texts and communications...


SabDor@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

i'm interested in the above, especially in contexts of legal documents,
consumer protection, standard contracts etc.

I not sure this will help, but to me it was enlightening as to the
legal profession's attitude toward clarity in communication.

I was serving on a committee with a couple of lawyers and some other
people trying to write a charter for a partnership of trusts and
estates. After a great deal of fussing we worked out a scheme for our
proposed methodology for assigning assets (all money) to the various
partners in a general fashion. The method was quite complex.

I went home and wrote the proposed algorithm down in old-fashioned
COBOL (the kind that was used back when they were still pretending that
managers could read it). COBOL is a computer language and exotic to
most people, but it does state financial processing procedures with
absolute clarity. I proposed we write the COBOL algorithm into our
legal contract.

The lawyers were appalled. As nearly as I can remember they said, "Why
can't we just state the general principles and leave the details to be
worked out later." Meanwhile, of course, they were filling the contract
with their traditional boilerplate.

I have my doubts as to whether any great number of lawyers even want
their texts to include clear communication.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How competent are we?
    ... career doing COBOL again. ... you might try the shops posting jobs that ... emphasizing "maintenance" skills in your resume, as some shop might ... contract, either Uncle Sam or a state government. ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: Have You Had Your Yearly Eye Exam?
    ... conflict which can sometimes arise between what your employer wants ... scientists and production folk. ... Lawyers do not usually get involved ... sponsored scientific researcvh where the contract includes submission ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)
  • Re: Declining Cobol job market
    ... Before I was managing projects on contract and providing advice to ... corporations on contract, I was programming computers on contract (mostly in ... COBOL, because that's where the money was, and because I really liked COBOL ... As the language declines, so will the job opportunities; ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: RPI & train fares
    ... department or agency drafts a big contract for procuring goods or services ... they retain specialist external commercial lawyers ... in the RPI, not a decrease. ... The concept of inflation dropping below zero was never ...
    (uk.railway)
  • Re: TR:UK - does good English matter?
    ... the ultimate put down is to be told by a Russian interpreter ... clear to what the subordinate clause refers. ... one on behalf of our lawyers, ... the one who agreed to use the Code Napoleon for a contract ...
    (uk.railway)