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{{a|contract|{{subtable|'''Sample''':<br>“Headings are for ease of reference only and shall be ignored in construing this Agreement”}}}}What is it that the [[legal eagle]] so distrusts about headings? | {{a|contract|{{subtable|'''Sample''':<br>“Headings are for ease of reference only and shall be ignored in construing this Agreement”}}}}What is it that the [[legal eagle]] so distrusts about headings? | ||
If you are anything like the [[JC]], the | If you are anything like the [[JC]], the headings are the only part of the contract you ''do'', with any regularity, read. Headings orient; they provide a superstructure; they provide ''context'' in a legal world so crushingly bereft of it. So why exclude them from helping understand what the document might mean? We are at a loss.<ref>It may be, in times past, the headings were added later by unqualified clerks, or something — I am totally making this up — but that isn’t how things work now.</ref> At best, this provides cover to the miscreant who later claims an interpretation the ''context'' — that is, the ''heading'' the term sat under — indicates is plainly fatuous. | ||
Look at it the other way: why would lawyers — surely the brain surgeons of our language — add words to a legal contract if they wanted them to be ignored? How, in a world overflowing with unnecessary words, can that be a good idea? At best, this is pure ''[[waste]]''. But would a ''real'' neurosurgeon, under the hood, make some harmless extra swipes with her scalpel for the hell of it? | |||
If, perversely, you ''care'' about your reader’s easy comprehension, use headings to structure your argument<ref>A legal contract is, after fashion, an “argument”.</ref> but do not then complain if your readers expect your argument to | Look, if you don’t want headings to mean anything, don’t ''use'' the damn things, and expect your document to be the kind of grey, unpunctuated [[entropic]] sludge of Times New Roman that emanates from every [[U.S. law firm|US law firm]]. Is that really what you want?<ref>[[U.S. attorney]]s: this is a rhetorical question.</ref> | ||
If, perversely, you ''care'' about getting to “yes”, and therefore your reader’s easy comprehension, use headings to structure your argument<ref>A legal contract is, after fashion, an “argument”.</ref> but do not then complain if your readers expect your argument to follow the framework you have set out. | |||
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