Are Clarity and Precision Compatible Aims in Legal Drafting
Coleman, Brady
Citation: [1998] Sing JLS 376
Legal language claims to seek precision. It also aims for clarity. But are precision and clarity mutually exclusive aims? Is absolute precision in legal language possible, or even desirable? What makes a text "clear"? How, if at all, are precision and clarity achieved in "plain" legal language but not in its linguistic opposite, "legalese"? Excerpts from Singapore's Railways Act are examined to give the theoretical discussion more concrete form.