Why is it that our tongue, so simple for other purposes, becomes so obscure and unintelligible in wills and contracts? Why is it that a man who expresses himself with clarity in anything else that he says or writes cannot find any means of making declarations in such matters which do not sink into contradictions and obscurity? Is it not that the ‘princes’ of that art, striving with a peculiar application to select traditional terms and to use technical language, have so weighed every syllable and perused so minutely every species of conjunction that they end up entangled and bogged down in an infinitude of grammatical functions and tiny sub-clauses which defy all rule and order and any definite interpretation?
~ Montaigne, The Complete Essays (1587-88)
Feeds
1262 items (960 unread) in 7 feeds
-
QuGee Forum
(2 unread)
-
talfryn.net (383 unread)
-
Wanderer
(318 unread)
-
To look life in the face
(56 unread)
-
Terry Wong
(163 unread)
-
YGG & YSS
-
萬法唯心 - Impermanence (38 unread)
«
Expand/Collapse
talfryn.net
-
That which is on paper
Posted: July 10th, 2009, 7:57am MDT by Husky
Tags: SeenHeardRead