Why Legal Documents Are Hard to Understand, According to Research

Legal documents are notoriously challenging to comprehend. A recent study explains this difficulty, attributing it to "legalese," which aims to convey knowledge and authority. This specialized language is so ingrained that even non-lawyers frequently adopt it, as revealed by researchers from the University of Chicago Law School, MIT, and the University of Melbourne.

Similar to the way grand and verbose magics spells are crafted for impact, legal documents often reflect this inflated complexity. Cognitive scientist Edward Gibson from MIT notes that there seems to be an implicit understanding that laws must sound a certain way, influencing how they are written.

Previous research identified that long definitions embedded in sentences, known as "center-embedding," greatly increase legal complexity. The current study aims to explore why this writing style persists.

The research team conducted experiments with 286 non-lawyer volunteers, asking them to write in various formats: outlining laws, narrating crimes related to those laws, and explaining the laws to others. Findings indicated that center-embedding frequently occurred in legal writing regardless of whether participants edited their drafts. This suggests that complexities arise naturally in legal texts, rather than from multiple revisions.

Conversely, the writing unrelated to law revealed more plain language and less center-embedding. Future research aims to trace the origins of this legal style by analyzing older legal texts.

Gibson posits that, "If you want to write something that’s a magic spell... you put a lot of old-fashioned rhymes." He theorizes center-embedding signals legalese in a similar manner. As early as the mid-19th century, Dickens remarked on the convoluted nature of lawsuits, with little improvement since. This trend contradicts the natural human desire for clear communication and understanding.

In essence, legal clarity often sacrifices straightforwardness in favor of sounding authoritative. Fortunately, this complexity can be reduced without losing vital content.

The research team's goal is to make legal documents clearer and more accessible. According to Gibson, even lawyers find legalese cumbersome. "Lawyers don't like it; laypeople don’t like it," he notes, underscoring the study's aim to understand why this writing style persists.

Earlier, SSP reported that digging holes at the beach can be dangerous.