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Normal English evolves. Contracts rely on precise, shared understanding, and so it builds up its own jargon and shibboleths to represent concepts that everyone
by Sebguer 4y ago
Normal English evolves. Contracts rely on precise, shared understanding, and so it builds up its own jargon and shibboleths to represent concepts that everyone can have a singular understanding of. You don't want there to be any ambiguity in your contract, or any chance that courtroom precedents may not apply because your language differed from the 'norm'.
- tomrod 4y agoBy your explanation, the language is broken by design. It cannot simultaneously not change while also develop shibboleths.
- CharlesW 4y agoThe parent commenter said explicitly that Legal English¹ "builds up its own jargon and shibboleths". However, this type of change happens differently than how general English evolves. It might help to think of Legal English as a DSL. ¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English
- tomrod 4y agoThat's actually a great way to classify it and makes sense.