- The intricacy of legislative jargon explained:
Earning a living with complex and incomprehensible texts is a common predicament for many, even lawyers often struggle with the peculiar jargon that law envelops. Edward Gibson, a scholar from MIT, pointed out this fact. What leads to this peculiar linguistic habit?
Gibson and his colleagues delved into this puzzle and found similarities with incantations. Much like incantations often included special rhymes and archaic phrases to denote power, the use of convoluted legal jargon signifies authority.
This team requested more than 200 individuals without legal background from the USA to draft official legislation outlawing activities such as drunk driving, burglary, arson, and drug trafficking. Utilizing another approach, participants wrote unofficial descriptions for these offenses.
Trends in writing
It unveiled an intriguing truth: Laypeople consistently endeavored to utilize legal jargon when drafting official texts. "It appears people subconsciously recognize an unspoken rule that laws should carry a specific tone, and they write them accordingly," explained Gibson, co-author of the study published in the 'Proceedings' journal of the US National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Typical legal terminology was not more frequent in unofficial descriptions, despite participants being instructed to add specific elements to their text later on. "If one wants to sound like a sorcerer in English culture, they know they must weave a lot of old-fashioned rhymes. We believe that this format might signify legal language in a similar manner," elaborated Gibson.
Excessive incorporation of verbose elements
In a former analysis of contracts, a group directed by Gibson discovered that extensive definitions were often incorporated within sentences in legal documents, making comprehension increasingly challenging. "Legal jargon has somehow developed a tendency to embed structures within other structures in a manner that is atypical of human languages," noted Gibson, a professor of cognitive science. Neither the general public nor lawyers themselves appreciate this peculiarity.
The researchers aim to leverage their findings to encourage legislators to rephrase laws in a more straightforward manner without compromising or altering their legal substance.
A historical influence?
Currently, Gibson and his team are exploring the historical roots of these prevalent embellishments and convolutions by analyzing older legal documents, dating back to the Code of Hammurabi, a prominent legal code, dated approximately 1750 BCE. "I would speculate it's a coincidental trait of how laws first emerged, but we lack sufficient information," conceded the professor.
The European Union, being a regulatory body with significant authority, has also been criticized for using complex legal jargon. This linguistic habit in the EU legal texts is not unique, as Gibson's study found that people often unconsciously use legal jargon when drafting official documents, due to an unspoken rule that laws should carry a specific tone.
