Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

The Diseases Of Legislative Language, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this article Professor Dickerson examines some of the most basic problems facing the legislative draftsman in his attempt to obtain clarity in statutes. He discusses the "diseases" of ambiguity, over-vagueness, over-precision, over- and under-generality and obesity, and distinguishes them from useful devices with which they are often confused.