Yesterday I unleashed on an unsuspecting world the following devastating insight: Instead of "shall without undue delay," I'd use "shall promptly". — Ken Adams (@AdamsDrafting) April 6, 2015 That’s straightforward enough—if you can express something positively instead of negatively and save a couple of words in the process, then you should do so. I had planned to leave it at … Read More
At my recent “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in San Francisco, a participant asked me what I thought of use of the phrase knowingly, voluntarily, and intentionally in waivers of jury trial, as in the following EDGAR example (I converted it from all caps to spare you having your eyeballs explode): The borrowers hereby knowingly, voluntarily, intentionally and irrevocably waive all … Read More
I’d like to revisit something discussed in MSCD—how one states warranties relating to, for example, goods yet to be delivered. Consider the following: Acme warrants that the Units will be free from defects when shipped from Acme’s plant. That’s standard warranty language, with Acme stating “future facts,” to use warranties-doctrine lingo. Well, in terms of semantics, I’m not keen on the notion … Read More
In the early days of my rummaging through the entrails of contract language, I logged a lot of time with the second edition of Bryan Garner’s Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. My recent visits have been fewer, but I did turn to the third edition, now called Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, to see if it had anything to say … Read More
A little birdie told me about the opinion of the Quebec Superior Court in Cemar Electro Inc. v. Grob Textile, A.G., 2014 QCCS 5814. (Go here for a copy.) In a contract with plaintiff Cemar, defendant Grob promised to “use its best efforts to advertise and promote the sale of the Products in the Territory and to make regular and sufficient contact … Read More
Does the word actual have a role to play in contracts? Sure, when it’s used to draw a contrast with some other attribute: any actual or alleged damage their actual or potential adverse impact Or when a word arguably some other, non-actual meaning. Referring to actual knowledge is appropriate to avoid anyone suggesting that you’re referring to imputed knowledge. But … Read More
One reason I keep an eye on Twitter is that occasionally random bits of interesting drift by. For example, behold the following: Is this a confusion of effort standards? – Contractor will use its best efforts to complete the project in a commercially reasonable time — Andrew Share (@ContractClutter) December 3, 2014 First, the issue isn’t “best efforts” being combined with … Read More
Is there no end to the oddity of traditional contract legalese? Today we consider well and truly, which I was happily unaware of until I considered the recital of consideration featured in this post. Its use of well and truly caused me to hit EDGAR, where I found the following examples: This Agreement and each and all of the Obligations shall survive … Read More
During my public “Drafting Clearer Contracts” seminar in New York last Thursday, a participant mentioned the phrase to wit. Here’s what Black’s Law Dictionary has to say about it: to wit (too wit), adv. (14c) Archaic. That is to say; namely <the district attorney amended the complaint to include embezzlement, to wit, “stealing money that the company had entrusted to … Read More
Thanks to this item on Lexology by Kimarie Cheang of Holman Fenwick Willan, I learned that earlier this year, in the case of KS Energy Services Ltd v BR Energy (M) Sdn Bhd [2014] SGCA 16 (here), the Singapore Court of Appeal had considered the implications of an obligation to use “all reasonable endeavours.” The court surveyed relevant caselaw in Singapore, England, and … Read More
