Great Legal Writing (eBook)

Foreword 9

1. Lawrence 15
On morality, aesthetics and other matters
1. Writing engagingly 15
2. Didacticism and the ‘art’ of writing 17
3. Moralising 18
4. Detachment 19
5. Writing intelligently, coherently and honestly 21

Key propositions 23

2. Besant 25
On the ‘laws’ of fiction and other matters
1. Writing engagingly 25
2. Sympathy and writing 27
3. Selection in writing 27
4. Elevation of mind 27
5. ‘Laws’ of writing 28

Key propositions 35

3. Conrad 37
On bringing light to truth and other matters
1. Bringing light to truth 37
2. Different author types 38
3. Emotion, morality and writing 39
4. Pursuit of truth 40

Key propositions 41

4. Crawford 43
On moralising, flippancy and other matters
1. Types of text 43
2. Purpose of text 44
3. Effect of writing 46
4. Moralising 47
5. Flippant and colloquial writing 48
6. Self-discipline 49
7. Brevity, simplicity, etc 51
8. Illusion, truth and writing 53
9. Realising the author’s conception 53
10. Using foreign words 54
11. Digression 55
12. Life experience and writing 55
13. Amusement/humour in writing 56
14. The ethics of writing 57
15. Sympathy 57

Key propositions 59

5. De Maupassant 61
On honesty, simplicity and other matters
1. Originality 61
2. Expectations as to form 62
3. The pursuit of truth 63
4. Detachment 64
5. Exactness and carefulness 65
6. Using simple vocabulary 67

Key propositions 68

6. De Quincey 71
On style and other matters
1. Style and writing 71
2. Why is style important? 73
3. Writing versus speech 73
4. Carelessness in writing 74
5. Media influence on language 78
6. Unduly long or conditional sentences 80
7. Using foreign words 81
8. Different aspects of style 82
9. Punctuation 83
10. Footnotes 84
11. Repetition and brevity 85

Key propositions 86

7. Forster 89
On the text as a story and other matters
1. Legal texts as stories 89
2. Writing engagingly 90
3. Writing and voice 93
4. Detachment 98
5. Plot and writing 99
6. Writing a conclusion 101
7. Different types of writer 102
8. Patterns in writing and writing models 104

Key propositions 106

8. Hardy 107
On sincerity, originality and other matters
1. Sincerity 107
2. Originality 108
3. Detachment 110
4. ‘Laws’ of writing 112
5. Hardy’s observations summarised 114
6. Carelessness in writing 115

Key propositions 116

9. The Hawthornes 119
On theme, tone, truth, the task of writing and other matters
1. Plainness and simplicity 119
2. Tone 120
3. Morality and writing 122
4. Writing models and formulae 124
5. The steps to writing a text 125
6. The ‘art’ of writing 127
7. Writing powerfully 128
8. Transcendent text 129
9. Types of writer 130
10. Some common failures in writing 133
11. Legal texts as national literature 139
12. Writing engagingly 140
13. Condescension and children 145
14. What makes a good writer? 147

Key propositions 149

10. Hazlitt 151
On pedantry, insight, jargon and other matters
1. Pedantry 151
2. Reading other texts 152
3. Jargon 154
4. Using foreign words 157

Key propositions 158

11. James 159
On the art and duty of writing, humour and other matters
1. The ‘art’ of writing 159
2. Task of the writer 162
3. Amusement, humour and didacticism in writing 163
4. Superabundant judgments 167
5. Writing engagingly 172
6. Avoiding ornamental writing 177
7. Writing engagingly, recounting facts 179
8. Types of writing 181
9. Style and freedom in writing 185

Key propositions 187

12. Stevenson 189
On composition, pattern, sound and other matters
1. Vocabulary, word choice and grammar 189
2. Composing a text 198
3. Style 200
4. Key elements of style 203
5. Patterns in writing and writing models 204
6. ‘Sound’ in writing 205
7. What to include or omit 207

Key propositions 209

13. Trollope 211
On literary quality, truth and the ‘rules’ of writing
1. Artistry and writing 211
2. Honesty in writing 212
3. ‘Laws’ of writing 215

Key propositions 218

14. Woolf 221
On quality in writing, ‘rules’ of writing and other matters
1. Weaknesses of modern writing 221
2. Lifeless writing 237
3. Forms of writing 237
4. Honesty and writing 239
5. Stream of consciousness 240
6. Concision in writing 243
7. ‘Rules’ of writing 244
8. Long words and opening words 244
9. Writing engagingly 245

Key propositions 252

Afterword: Towards a code of good legal writing 255

Appendix: Writing for the young and vulnerable 269

Table of cases 283

Index 285

About the author 291

About Globe Law and Business 293