What is POFP?

Why do lawyers refer to long documents as briefs and
18-year olds as infants? Why do they use so much Latin when so few of their
clients are Ancient Romans? Is it a conspiracy?


Party of the First Part has the answers! Check out the Website for the
Legalese Hall of Shame; a glossary of legal words linked to Adam Freedman's
columns; tips on writing legal documents in plain English; and more!



Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Herein, Legalese Interferes with Suds


State-mandated legalese has caused an upstate NY town to make the ultimate sacrifice: it's gone dry. The NY Times reports that the town fathers of Potter, NY wanted to grant one restaurant the right to serve beer and wine with meals. But NY law requires that any expansion of a town's liquor license requires a referendum with five mandatory questions, all phrased in garbled legalese. The town voters got confused, voted "no" on all the questions and ended up banning all sales of liquor in the town.