a public defender


Lingua lex

Posted on December 28, 2007 by Gideon

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In the past week I have had the pleasure of writing “heretofore” and “therefrom” three times, “hereinafter” four times, “wherefore” twice and “assuming, arguendo” five times. How about you?

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6 Comments »

Comment by Mark Bennett Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-29 11:08:01

No, no, no, no, and no. I try to write in plain English. “Heretofore” is “before now”; “therefrom” is “from that / those”; “hereinafter” I replace with a parenthetical (for example, “The blawger known as Gideon (’Gideon’)”; “wherefore” is “so”; and “assuming, arguendo” is “assuming for the sake of argument”.

 
Comment by Mark Bennett Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-29 11:08:36

Oops. Missed a close paren after (’Gideon’)” and before the semicolon.

 
Comment by Gideon
2007-12-29 11:59:38

Not even in appellate briefs?

 
Comment by SPO
2007-12-29 16:23:40

There’s a reason that crap is used–when drafting complicated agreements, the words often save time and are more precise. Once you get used to the crap, it actually makes sense.

 
Comment by Skelly
2007-12-30 19:53:06

At the beginning of pleadings I’ve taken to dropping the “Comes now” language (”Comes now the Defendant…”); it made little sense and just made less-mature people snicker.

 
Comment by Gideon
2007-12-30 20:10:41

I don’t think I’ve ever used that phrase. It seems very awkward.

 
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