Lawspeak's complexity stems from its intricate nature.
Laws and statutes, even for professionals like lawyers, can sometimes be difficult to decipher due to their intricate language. As per a study conducted in the United States, legal language can be likened to ancient spells or rituals, embodying power and authority.
Edward Gibson, from MIT in Cambridge, USA, stated that even lawyers find legal language to be clumsy and complex. Where does this propensity towards complex jargon stem from?
Gibson and his research team found similarities between legal language and magical incantations. Just as spells include peculiar rhythms and antiquated terminology to symbolize power, convoluted legal language conveys a sense of authority.
The team had over 200 US non-lawyers draft official laws prohibiting acts like drunk driving, burglary, arson, and drug trafficking. In the second phase, they were asked to pen unofficial descriptions of these laws.
Laypeople adhere to the same style
The outcome of this experiment was intriguing. When writing laws, non-lawyers unconsciously utilized typical legal language. Gibson, the study's co-author, commented, "It seems people intuitively understand that laws should have this specific tone, and they write them accordingly."
Typical legal phrases in the middle of sentences were not more common in the unofficial descriptions, even when the participants were asked to incorporate certain elements later. According to Gibson, this implies that middle embedding might signify legal language in a similar manner as old-fashioned rhymes signify a magical incantation in the English culture.
Tendency towards excessive embedding
Previous research conducted by Gibson's team showed that long definitions are often embedded in the middle of legal documents, which can hinder text comprehension significantly.
Gibson, a professor of cognitive science, commented, "It appears the language of law has developed an unusual tendency to nest structures within structures, which is not typical of human languages." Neither laypeople nor lawyers themselves appreciate this.
The team's objective is to capitalize on these findings to identify peculiarities of legal language and encourage legislators to draft laws more intelligibly in the future. Laws could be rewritten in a simplified style without losing or distorting their legal substance, according to them.
A legacy of legal history?
Gibson and his team are now planning to delve into the origin of these typical embeddings and convolutions. By analyzing older statutes, even tracing back to the Code of Hammurabi, they intend to shed light on this fascinating aspect of legal history.
"I suspect it's a random aspect of how the laws were first drafted, but we don't have concrete evidence yet," concluded Gibson.
In the context of legal language, Gibson suggests that the tendency towards middle embedding might signify the same way old-fashioned rhymes signify a magical incantation in the English culture. Furthermore, the team's objective is to use their findings to encourage legislators to draft laws more intelligibly in the future, potentially simplifying law texts without losing their legal substance.
