To the fullest extent permissible by law
It won’t be long in the life of a young lawyer before she comes across this delightful subordinate clause:
To the maximum extent permissible by law,...
She might pause briefly, on that first fumbling encounter, and wonder what legal mischief this incantation is calculated to ward off. Is the default position that any legal provision is deemed to be half-hearted in its effect: 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. but a bit of research suggests that the crafty devil who introduced this graim expression to the forensic world plied his trade in the late nineteen seventies. And as you'll see, it has flourished since its introduction.
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