To the fullest extent permissible by law

The JC’s guide to writing nice.™ →Go uptown {{{3}}} Unknown before 1978, this ghastly phrase has flourished in the intervening years. Source: Google]] Index: Click ᐅ to expand: Plain English Drafting Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

It won’t be long in the life of a young lawyer before she comes across this delightfully flannelled subordinate clause:

The Issuer to the maximum extent permissible by law, accepts no liability for the contents of this prospectus...

She might pause briefly, on that first fumbling encounter, and wonder what legal mischief this incantation is calculated to ward off. Does the law assume that any contractual provision is deemed, unless you say to the contrary, to be half-hearted in its intent — a choked nine-iron back onto the fairway from behind a tree, and not a full-throated drive at the green?

God only knows, is this commentator’s remark. God probably doesn’t know either. But a bit of research suggests that this gem found its way into the forensic world some time in the late 1970s. And as you’ll see to the right, it has flourished since its introduction.

The lilly-liveredness of this statement makes you shudder. We know for certain that no-one saw fit to make this remark before the 1970s. What is it about the modern world that makes a legal eagle worry so? Does it not, subliminally, sent a contrary message: “I am saying I accept no responsibility, but I tacitly acknowledge that at some level I probably do.”

Whereas the bold statement: “The Issuer accepts no liability for this prospectus” leaves a reader in no doubt where she stands:

“Okay, okay, I get it. You aren’t responsible. Jesus. Calm down already.”

Now should it transpire that the full extent of the law did not allow the Issuer off the hook, well — happy days — but the Issuer gains nothing by adding this in the interim. And not saying it hardly makes the Issuer’s position worse, does it?