Without limiting the generality of the foregoing: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:47, 7 April 2020

SEC guidance on plain EnglishIndex: Click ᐅ to expand: Plain English Drafting Metaphor

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A tedious articulation of a pointless contrivance: the “without limitation” clause.

See, you don’t need to say “without limiting the generality of the foregoing...”, because you can just say “without limitation”, and you don’t need to say “without limitation...” because it carries no semantic content whatsoever. Unless you have stated a limitation, one will not be implied, either as a matter of basic linguistic construction or, for that matter, common law.

If you have stated a limitation, then what the hell are you doing writing “without limitation”?

Why are the best-paid professional writers in the world such ham-hocked users of their own language?

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 {{pe}}A tedious articulation of a pointless contrivance: the “[[without limitation]]” clause.
-See, you don’t need to say “[[without limiting the generality of the foregoing]]...”, because you can just say “[[without limitation]]”, and you don’t need to say “[[without limitation]]...” ''because it carries no semantic content whatsoever''. Unless you have described a limitation one will not be [[Implied term|implied]], either as a matter of basic linguistic construction or, for that matter, [[common law]]. If you ''have'' described a limitation, then what the hell are you doing writing “[[without limitation]]”?
+See, you don’t need to say “[[without limiting the generality of the foregoing]]...”, because you can just say “[[without limitation]]”, and you don’t need to say “[[without limitation]]...” ''because it carries no semantic content whatsoever''. Unless you have ''stated'' a limitation, one will not be [[Implied term|implied]], either as a matter of basic linguistic construction or, for that matter, [[common law]].
+If you ''have'' stated a limitation, then ''what the hell are you doing writing “[[without limitation]]”?''
 Why are the [[Mediocre lawyer|best-paid professional writers in the world]] such ham-hocked users of their own language?