May, but shall not be obliged to

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Redundancy. Celery. The bleeding obvious.

Timid drafting for members of the legal profession whose mastery of the language in which they ply their craft is so compromised as to struggle with the difference between may and must.

Don’t be that person.

“May” confers an option, not an obligation. There is one time that you should use this expression in a contract: when you are conferring on a party a right that party would not otherwise have. “Party A may cross Party B’s private land to access the roadway” is a good use of the word “may”. “Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing [which is about something else altogether], and for the avoidance of doubt, Party B may telephone his elderly aunt at any time without limitation” is not a good use of “may”, or the trees on which such a pointless sentence may, for the time being and from time to time, be printed.

See also

• Shall be entitled to