More “These Presents” Shenanigans

Get a load of the following:

10.16 Intervention by Parent. Now unto these presents comes Dynacq Healthcare, Inc., a Nevada corporation, which represents that it owns all of the membership interests of Seller.

“Now unto these presents”! It sounds like Shakespeare! “Now is the winter of our discontent …”

And how about this:

CERTIFICATE OF EXISTENCE

To Whom These Presents Come, Greeting:

I, TODD ROKITA, Secretary of State of Indiana, do hereby certify that I am, byvirtue of the laws of the State of Indiana, the custodian of the corporaterecords and the proper official to execute this certificate.

“To Whom These Presents Come, Greeting”! That sounds like something Klaatu would say. (Thanks to reader AWB for letting me know that such freakishness exists.)

About the author

Ken Adams is the leading authority on how to say clearly whatever you want to say in a contract. He’s author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, and he offers online and in-person training around the world. He’s also chief content officer of LegalSifter, Inc., a company that combines artificial intelligence and expertise to assist with review of contracts.

3 thoughts on “More “These Presents” Shenanigans”

  1. Ken, it is just the kind of thing people said in Shakespeare’s day, as the phrase appears in Queen Elizabeth’s patent to Sir Walter Raleigh of 1584 granting him the right to colonize the Americas (http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/raleghcharter1584.htm) and seemingly in the Mayflower Compact of 1620 as well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact).

    Going back to the time of Richard III (into whose mouth Shakespeare put the words “Now is the Winter of our discontent…”), here is one of his Royal Charters (presumably written between 1483 and 1485) which uses the phrase: http://webcentre.co.nz/kk/crown.htm

    The phrase probably goes back further in time – anyone want to fund a research project…?

    Reply

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