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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 24

Want of Precision, Source of Litigation

Want of Precision, Source of Litigation.

Alluding specially to the importance of precision and accuracy of language in matters relating to law, and legal rights, I nay mention that a learned Italian commentator says, that "Many are bad law-makers because they are bad grammarians;" and I have no hesitation in adding, that a very large proportion of the most unsatisfactory litigation is attributable to a want of care in the adoption of terms, and in the verbal composition, of written laws; while a far greater proportion is to be credited to the vagueness, obscurity, incongruity, ambiguity, and uncertainty of the language used by parties dealing with each other, in their agreements—verbal and written,—in commercial documents, and in general correspondence.

The cultivation, therefore, of a pure and vigorous, a simple and unambiguous style, would be a worthy object to be kept prominently in view by the members of our societies, not merely for literary, but also for utilitarian purposes.