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{{a|drafting| | {{a|drafting|{{image|Oats|png|}}}} There is nothing that gives away a commercial quite like her innate yen for particularity. Whether borne of a basic fear of the unexpected, should one leave things unclarified — a common enough standpoint — or of a personality so besotted with crushing detail as to be unable to resist minutiae when the opportunity arises, the trait manifests in the [[defined term]]: a brief passage that puts a given ''noun'' or ''concept'' in relation to a specified ''designator'' — these days the fashionable term is “''token''” of some kind. | ||
This provides our legal eagle the satisfaction, or deliverance from evil of knowing that the referent is adequately ''elucidated'' in one place, and efficiently ''designated'' everywhere else. | |||
A definition is thus a kind of legal “technology”: an evolutionary trick that solves a perennial problem — or at any rate scratches a perennial itch. | |||
And it manifests just the same familiar unexpected consequences: a device designed to make passages easier to digest can have the effect of making them harder. | |||
A boon and a bane. On one hand they can cut through needless word-proliferation: | |||
{{quote|“'''[[ERISA]]'''” means The [[Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974]] (Pub.L. 93–406, 88 Stat. 829, enacted September 2, 1974, codified in part at 29 U.S.C. ch. 18) as amended, restated or superseded from time to time.”}} | {{quote|“'''[[ERISA]]'''” means The [[Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974]] (Pub.L. 93–406, 88 Stat. 829, enacted September 2, 1974, codified in part at 29 U.S.C. ch. 18) as amended, restated or superseded from time to time.”}} | ||
On the other, they can complicate a document by obliging the reader to flip back and forth to find what the definitions mean, especially where the definitions are embedded in the body of the agreement and not in a definitions section. And let’s face it: if you work in international finance and you don’t already know what “[[ERISA]]” means, you really need to [[get your coat]]. | On the other, they can complicate a document by obliging the reader to flip back and forth to find what the definitions mean, especially where the definitions are embedded in the body of the agreement and not set out in a separate definitions section. And let’s face it: if you work in international finance and you don’t already know what “[[ERISA]]” means, you really need to [[get your coat]]. | ||
Now dear old {{tag|ISDA}} ''loves'' definitions, and you will be obliged to consult one or several definitions booklets, often with conflicting definitions, as well as the definitions in {{isdama}}, the {{isdaprov|Schedule}} and the {{isdaprov|Confirmation}} to work out what a capitalised expression might mean. | Now dear old {{tag|ISDA}} ''loves'' definitions, and you will be obliged to consult one or several definitions booklets, often with conflicting definitions, as well as the definitions in {{isdama}}, the {{isdaprov|Schedule}} and the {{isdaprov|Confirmation}} to work out what a capitalised expression might mean. | ||