DailyPost 1173- Every professional domain has its jargon and that remains to be the sole preserve of its practitioners. Some have a tendency to get into the public domain as more persons outside the domain start understanding, in the case of IT. It is need and usage based. Medical terminologies may not be familiar to the patient or the relative but the medical ecosystem has developed a system by which all stakeholders understand it precisely and issues don’t get stalled on this count. The legal world it is very different ball game.
Legalese is on a totally different trajectory compared to any professional field. It gives a feeling at times that its been created for its practitioners and not for the people who need legal help and decisions. Enter a legal document, from the flimsiest to the most sacred; the constitution of a country, the single act which keeps on happening endlessly, ceaselessly and relentlessly is its interpretation. If that were level of understanding, time and complexity required for decision making in any other field, it would have been shut long time back.
The point in law does not end. There are no timelines. The facts may be different but legally its not tenable. Then there are persons who understand the law, the way they make it out to be. BREXIT. Most unfortunately, they are the law makers. Democracies ordain group understanding of law depending on which bench they are. The current US impeachment sage. Understandability of the citizen / litigant has never been a concern in jurisprudence, enactment of law or delivery of justice.
If rule of law is to be robust and executable in word and spirit, understanding is the key. That is the bedrock of our existence. It has brought down into tangibles. If every law or rule is a matter of debate or interpretation, the understanding of the basic concept of rule of law will remain at its weakest. Drafting of conventions and declarations hang fire even after the decision. Who gains?
EXCESSIVE LEGALESE WEAKENS THE LAW RATHER THAN STRENGTHENING IT.