A complex set of ideas is often difficult to understand. If they are presented in one sentence in the form of a block of text, the difficulty becomes all the greater. Design techniques such as paragraphs or definitions can make a complex sentence easier to understand, but their use is limited. Another approach is to divide a complex sentence into a series of sentences. This allows the reader to digest the ideas in stages. However, it also requires the author to make sure that the sentences follow one another so that the ideas are coherent. If the topic is in the middle or end of a sentence, the reader must first read it to find it, and then reread it to relate it to the other parts of the sentence. This is the case, for example, if there is a lengthy exception at the beginning of a provision or if other circumstances related to its application occur at the beginning, as in the previous example. This line of thinking usually makes it more difficult to understand the sentence. This was stated more than 160 years ago in Bentham`s Nomography (1839): the difficulty with a complex sentence is that it transcends the limitations of short-term memory and often requires a reader to read the sentence several times to understand it. Readers need breaks in idea development so they can consolidate what they`ve read and then move on.
This is a feature of English writing in general and not just legislation. It seems to be a great intellectual achievement to write a sentence consisting of three or more main propositions, each modified by as many grammatically inserted subordinate propositions as possible. Much of our common law legislation would be better if sentences were shorter and there were more sections and paragraphs. (Instruction Manual for Legislative and Legal Drafting, volumes 6 to 556-557) Whatever the main purpose you want to consider in your sentence, advance the word used in its expression as quickly as possible: if you can start the sentence with the same word, great. (cited in Bowers, Linguistic Aspects of Legislative Expression (1989) at 347-8) Laws can be improved by paying attention to their complexity and organization. Finally, the applicability of Coode`s argument is questionable. It is assumed that people generally read laws to find regulations that address their particular situation and skip those that do not. This may be the case if the law establishes a number of prohibitions or rules that apply in mutually exclusive circumstances. But readers often want to gain a general understanding of the law in order to be able to deal with any situation.
It all depends on what the reader is focusing on. Are they trying to eliminate rules that do not apply to them or are they trying to understand the whole law? This rule contradicts a design convention that originated in the mid-19th century by George Coode. This Agreement relates to conditional provisions that describe the circumstances in which a provision applies (the “Case”). Coode recommended that these clauses should generally be placed at the beginning of the provision. The reasoning is expressed as follows: 19. If a person who handles, offers or transports dangerous goods through Canada to a point outside Canada is not a resident of Canada or has its principal place of business, principal place of business or principal place of business outside Canada, that person shall, where required by law, submit to the Minister the name of a person: who resides or resides principally in Canada or has a principal place of business in Canada and who is willing to: act as an agent, with proof of such availability, and in the case of such presentation, that person is deemed to be the person who provides transportation or transportation for the purposes of this Act. The question of where conditional clauses should be placed is more controversial. This can be answered by considering why the order of ideas in a sentence is important in the first place.
Anglo-French, from Latin legalis, from leg-, lex law One way to overcome problems of reading complex sentences is simply to shorten them. One of the most important people who suggested this was Driedger, who wrote: (2) The certificate or report is admissible without proof of the signature or officialness of the person who appears to have signed the certificate or report. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it constitutes proof of the statements contained therein. However, it is a mistake to assume that legislation can or should always be formulated in short sentences. In fact, the proofreading process involves breaking down the sentence into more manageable units from which meaning can be extracted more easily. The need for pauses also helps explain why more white space on a page makes text more appealing to readers. Fiennes` point highlights the price of dividing ideas into a series of sentences: separation can obscure the relationship of some ideas unless coherent means are added to glue them together. The division can also be accentuated by formatting devices, such as numbering each sentence into a separate section. 12. a certificate or report stating that it appears to have been signed by an inspector or analyst, stating that the inspector or analyst conducted an inspection or testing or examining a product, substance or body and stating that the results of the inspection, analysis or investigation in the course of the prosecution of an offence under this Act were made without proof of the signature or official nature of the The person who appears to have signed the certificate or report is admissible and, in the absence of proof to the contrary, constitutes proof of the statements contained in the certificate or report. Sentence structure has two aspects: complexity (including length) and organization (word order).
She looks at this note separately, but these aspects are interconnected because word order is the main way available in English to express the interrelationship of ideas in a sentence.
