*clap clap clap clap*
Wonderfully witty. Excellent closing line. All in all very nice. =)
At 10:27 AM 9/18/2000, you wrote:
>On Sun, 17 Sep 2000, Rogers Cadenhead wrote:
>
> > No -- *generating* legalese is what lawyers are for. If they wrote things
> > in clear English that everyone could understand, we wouldn't need as
> > many lawyers or judges.
>
>Once upon a time there was no legalese. It was a long time ago. It was a
>glorious time of plain English documents, only English hadn't been
>invented yet. Everyone could read a contract and understood what it said,
>because there were no terms of art in it.
>
>But because language is a tricky thing, people started arguing about what
>this word meant in that context, and decisions were handed down about the
>language. These terms became legalese, and from then on, normal people
>started using them to write more clearly.
>
>Over time, more and more words were added to the legal dictionary, and
>Black did profit. And it was so thick, and the words so terrifying, that
>the farmers and cobblers and dressmakers and bakers of the world no longer
>could understand all of them. Only the scholars knew the legal terms in
>their manifest, and these became the lawyers.
>
>Is the system a corruption of justice? Who knows. Does it actually
>protect the best interests of the common citizen? Who knows. Is any of
>this relevant? Not really.
>
>Want to protect your legal interests? Either study the law yourself, or
>get a lawyer. If you don't, and you get screwed, it was your own damned
>fault. And I mean "generic you" by "you" -- there's Plain English for
>you.
>
>Adam "IANALBIMO" Dray
>
>-------------
>For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
