Such toe is all right now/Nachahmung in der Rechtssprache
am 25.06.2008 von http://transblawg.eu
Some Germans - lawyers or translators - can write really good legal English but tend to be more Catholic than the Pope (päpstlicher als der Papst) when doing so.
Im reminded of this by the (new) legal writers quote in his latest entry:
“Much bad writing today comes not from the conventional sources of verbal dereliction—sloth, original sin, or native absence of mind—but from stylistic imitation. It is learned, an act of stylistic piety which imitates a single style, the bureaucratic style I have called The Official Style. This bureaucratic style dominates written discourse in our time, and beginning or harried or fearful writers adopt it as protective coloration.”
—Richard A. Lanham, Revising Prose vi (3d ed. 1992).
(This is quoted from Garners Usage Tip of the Day, which I dont receive).
That refers to native English speakers writing English, who have less excuse, of course.
Particular features of this hyperlegalese:
use of said and aforesaid where it adds nothing
use of such instead of this/these
Heres a site that objects to it too (Alabama Legislative Reference Service):
Rule 10. Use of “Such”
Do not use “such” as a substitute for “the,” “that,” “it,” “those,” “them,” or other similar words.
Example: “The (not ‘such’) application shall be in the form the court prescribes.” Use “such” to express “for example” or “of that kind.”
overuse of shall. I quote an example from Butt and Castle on Modern Legal Drafting:
If the Vendor shall within one month of the …
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Austrian Supreme Court of Justice English site/Obergerichtshof Österreich englische Website
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