Beware the legalese virus

PLATFORM:The virus, found in EU legislation and government publications, attacks the mind and hijacks its ability to communicate clearly, writes  MARGARET E WARD.

EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS are concerned about the rapid spread of an aggressive virus known as legalese LT08.

A close relative of jargonitis, academicspeakis and gobbledegook, the malady has taken hold of European laws and infected civil servants throughout the EU.

The virus, mostly found in EU legislation and government publications, attacks the human mind and hijacks its ability to communicate clearly. Although initially confined to government workers, scientists say the virus has jumped from one species to another and is now increasingly found in the general population.

Health officials have issued a public warning outlining the written and verbal symptoms of legalese. They include: writing long sentences that cover different or unrelated points; using too many words; double negatives; an overly formal tone; and showing insensitivity to readers' needs.

Individuals (except academics) who spout Latin and use words common only in the 18th and 19th centuries - for no apparent reason - may also be infected with the virus.

Those who contract legalese LT08 do not always develop the full-blown disease, legaltwaddle. Experts say it is unclear how the virus is transmitted from one person to another. However, incomprehensible laws, documents and speeches littered with Latin words and empty phrases such as "going forward" have been found to muddle citizens' minds and destroy their decision-making skills.

Irish citizens are at particular risk of infection this June. Scientists expressed deep concern this week over the viral strength of the Lisbon Treaty and its potential to infect thousands of innocent Irish voters. Attendees at the Guff, Waffle and the Language of Obscurity conference heard the treaty cited as "the worst outbreak of the legalese virus in recent history".

Disease control expert Dr Plain Talking told conference attendees: "We tested the knowledge of the legal experts for the European Council who drafted the treaty's text. We found they were unsure of the actual meaning of most sections but, despite this, they genuinely saw nothing wrong with the document's wording."

To avoid an epidemic, leading scientists in the language abuse field have asked voters to avoid reading the treaty's text before voting on it. They also called for the urgent development of legalese vaccines, drugs and diagnostic techniques.

Past attempts to protect the population have been largely ineffective. In 1993, the European Council of Ministers developed guidelines on drafting legislation that said "the wording of [an] act should be clear, simple, concise and unambiguous; unnecessary abbreviations, 'community jargon' and excessively long sentences should be avoided".

A euro jargon buster was also developed for the EU's information website, www.europa.eu. However, the majority of citizens still can't make sense of the legalese-tainted language spoken in Brussels.

"The more the virus takes hold, the less likely it is that citizens will understand what politicians say. Since Brussels makes the laws, this communication gap is a frightening divide between civil servants and the people they represent. It will certainly breed suspicion among voters," said Dr Talker.

Internationally, many countries have put emergency response systems in place to ensure voters understand the law.

In April of this year, the United States passed the Plain Language in Government Communications Act. Also, 44 of the 50 US states require insurance contracts to be written in plain English.

According to the Plain English campaign, "studies in the Australian state of Victoria, which uses plain-English drafting, show that lawyers can understand and use a plain-English version of an act in between a half and a third of the time it takes with the traditional version".

Ireland is not immune from the disease and, in December 2000, a Law Reform Commission report recommended that laws use contemporary language and shorter and less elaborate sentences.

Irish researchers made a significant breakthrough last week when they identified no-guff antibodies in European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.

Dr Clarity Please said: "We've been looking for someone with immunity to legislative waffle and we were delighted when he told it like it is."

McCreevy admitted he had not read the treaty and said: "I don't expect ordinary, decent Irish people, or anywhere else in the globe, to sit down and spend hours and hours reading sections about subsections referring to articles of other subarticles."

Margaret E. Ward is a journalist and a director of Clear Ink, the Clear English Specialists margaret@clearink.ie