C

Case
study
t d

Anna Patricia China

Punctuation for legal writing

have the text in hands
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G tti ready
Getting
d ...

The prevailing view in common law jurisdictions

was that the meaning of legal documents should
be ascertained from the words of the document
and their context rather than from punctuation.
A
Accordingly,
di l old-fashioned
ld f hi
d llegall d
drafting
f i tends
d to
involve little or no p
punctuation. This makes it
extremely hard to read and potentially highly
ambiguous.
Fortunately, modern legal drafters have begun to
use punctuation in the same way that ordinary
writers use punctuation to give guidance to
meaning.
i
(HAIGH, 2009)

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Example:
This man said the jjudge
g is
a fool.

This man, said the judge, is

a fool
fool.

Woman without her man

would
ld b
be a savage.

Woman - without her, man

would
ld b
be a savage.

Full stop/
p period
p
(.)
()
Full stop is the British English term, and
period
i d is
i th
the A
American
i
E
English
li h tterm.
Full stops/ periods should be used:
at the end of all sentences that are not
questions
ti
or exclamations
l
ti
after abbreviations - Mon.
Mon Sept 24
24.

C
Comma
((,))
Commas are used to show a short pause
within
ithi a sentence.
t
Th
They should
h ld b
be used
d
p
commas can
with care as a misplaced
alter the intended meaning of the
sentence.
sentence
Example:
James hit Ian and Edward, then ran away.
James hit Ian, and Edward then ran away.
7

The principal circ

circumstances
mstances in which
hich
commas should be used:
to separate items in a list of more than 2
it
items:
cars, trucks,
t k vans, and
d ttractors.
t
to separate clauses: Cars should park
here, and trucks should continue straight
on.
to mark a sub
sub-clause:
clause: James
James, who is a
corporate lawyer, led the seminar.
following words which introduce direct
speech:
h H
He said,
id my llawyer iis a genius!
i !
8

C l (:)
Colon
()
The colon is usually
y used to point
p
to information that
follows. It may also be used to link two clauses. Here
are some examples
p
of usage:
g
to precede a list The following item are included:
to introduce a step from an introduction to a main
theme or from a general statement to a particular
situation The remedy is simple: introduce new
rules.
to sho
show ca
cause
se and effect An energetic ne
new director
has been appointed: this accounts for the rise in
share prices
prices.
to precede an explanation The argument used by
th d
the
defence
f
was as ffollows:
ll
9

S i l (;)
Semicolon
()
The semicolon is used to separate parts
off a sentence
t
when
h a more distinct
di ti t break
b k
provided by
ya
is needed than can be p
comma, but the parts of the sentence are
too closely connected for separate
sentences to be used.
Example:
To err is human; to forgive, divine.
10

In legal writing,
riting semicolons are used
sed to
punctuate the end of any
p
y sub-clause or
paragraph that forms part of a longer
sentence.
sentence
Example:
The purchaser and seller agree as
follows: (1) the goods will be sold for the
sum of four hundred dollars (US$ 400
400,00)
00)
per unit; (2) delivery will take place on
N
November
b 2
27, 2004
2004; and
d (3) payment will
ill
be made in cash no later than December
15, 2004.

11

Practice 1 Over to you

y
The following text is an extract from Case
studies
t di on bi
bioenergy policy
li and
dL
Law:
p
for sustainability.
y Some
options
punctuation marks have been taken
away; you have to place the punctuations
marks in the correct place.
p
commas (5)
colon (1)
semicolons (5)
12

Practice 2 Vocabulary
y
Complete
p
the chart with words
verb

noun
sustainability

adjective
applicable

maintain
i t i

p
consumption
organization
maintenance/
maintainability

maintainable

advise

13

Practice 3 - Matching
Match Part A and Part B, according to the
i f
information
ti in
i th
the case study
t d above.
b
a

Part A
Law No. 11.097 of 2005

Brazilian Agroenergy Plan 2006

2006-2011
2011

Law No. 9.478 (1997 as amended)

Law No. 10.438

of 2002, as amended)

Part B
important federal law which frames contemporary
bioenergy production and consumption on the
National Energy Policy in Brazil.
also established the inclusion of 3 300 MW of
energy from wind sources, biomass and small
hydroelectric centrals, in equal
amounts,, into the national energy
gy grid,
g , with a
long-term objective of
obtaining 10 percent of electricity from these
sources - Brazilian Renewable Energy Incentive
P
Programme
(P
(Proinfa)
i f ) within
ithi th
the
Ministry of Mines and Energy.
introduced a mandatory blend of 5 percent
biodiesel
into the domestic diesel fuel supply market to
commence in 2013 and called
for a 2 percent blend by 2008 as an interim
measure (art.
( t 2).
2)
provides four reasons justifying Brazils
continuing intervention.

14

Practice 4 Can you make adverbs?

An adverb adds more to the meaning of a
verb,
b an adjective
dj ti or another
th adverb.
d b IIn
most cases,, an adverb is formed byy
adding -ly to an adjective.
There are many adjectives and adverbs in
the Case study above
above. Did you notice?
Complete the table below.

15

adjective
brief
ecological
environmental
social
legal

adverb
briefly

notably
economic
i
potentially
highly
16

Introduction
This chapter
Thi
h t provides
id an overview
i
off bi
bioenergy and
d
g
production in Brazil, and briefly
y reviews
agricultural
experiences in the biofuel industry since the 1970s. It
outlines federal legislation and institutions governing
this industry and highlights examples of interagency
coordination It then describes in further detail the
coordination.
regulations applicable to the bioethanol and biodiesel
sectors, focusing on regulatory requirements,
incentives and institutions in both fields,, after which
the discussion draws particular attention to the Social
Fuel Seal mechanism
mechanism.
17

The last section reviews other legislation

g
relevant for
the sustainability of the biofuels programmes in
Brazil including its climate change plan
Brazil,
plan, the Kyoto
Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
programme in Brazil,
Brazil selected forestry legal
requirements, ecological and agricultural zoning
plans, environmental impact assessment regulations
and new legislation
g
applicable
pp
to land tenure in the
Amazon. It also provides a brief overview of the main
voluntary agreements addressing social and
environmental conditions in the biofuels sector. The
final section presents the conclusions of the study
study,
identifies innovative legal options and provide some
recommendations.
18

Do doublets such as null and

void and due and payable
have distinctive meanings?
In fact, they are redundant,
and in these days of plain
English in the legal world, it is
preferable to use one word
rather than two.

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V
Vocabulary
b l
check
h k

19

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Review y
your lesson and do the
exercises

Check your answers

20