[woofa.express]

This story is a doosey
Why is legal jargon so gobbledegook.

When I was a school kid I can well remember being taught “William the conqueror 1066”. No teacher ever told me who this William fellow was and it wasn’t until I was in my 40’s did I discover he was a Froggie who invaded England. He claimed he had a right to the throne and todays royals have descended from this fellow William. It is all quite fascinating stuff but a school kid has no idea where Hastings is (where the battle occurred) or where Normandy is (where this froggy came from). And does he really care?
As a result of this invasion we coped a complex way to speak which still exists today in the legal industry. I found the best explanation of this history on the internet which I have copied and pasted below. End of chapter 1.
The dawn of a new world.
Occasionally one hears of a brave new sole who endeavours to push shit uphill with the endeavour to introduce plain language into legal speech and legal documents. The legal industry has resisted this and I think it is so they can be consulted (additional business for them) to explain to us ordinary mortals just what this confusing stuff really means.
Well there’s being a breakthrough. The New Zealand parliament is legislating to address this stupidity and turn legalese to language we all understand. Hooray! It’s being supported by the left pollical parties and resisted by the conservatives. I agree with the lefties on this one. Where did I find this report?- in the Russian Times. No I am not a commo, I also read the Washington Post, the UK times and our local The Australian.
Does this complex legal jargon effect you. Most probably yes, it does me. I don’t read the legal jargon in the small print of an insurance policy informing me that I maybe prohibited from being paid out in an insurance claim. Betcha.
Here are two footnotes.
Firstly from the internet and secondly on another piece of legislation from New Zealand.

Also an interesting apple pie chart
of how the English language is composed.
Because the key is difficult to read here it is. Purple is from the French. Blue is Latin. Green is Germatic and others. Red is Greek. Brown is others and yellow is unknown.

Now 2, an interesting further tale on New Zealand. Dairy product is the largest export and thus their big national income on which they are dependent. They have legislated to tax the farmer because the cows fart. Make sense to you? You must understand that parliaments are made-up of mostly sensible people who gather together and make stupid decisions.

because the pictures wouldn't copy adjacent to the paragraph to which they pertain here they are at the bottom. You'll work them out.