I noticed that MSCD doesn’t contain the word ampersand. With this post, I aim to set that right for the sixth edition!
As Wikipedia tells us, “The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram &, representing the conjunction ‘and’. It originated as a ligature of the word et (Latin for ‘and’).”
I suggest that the only ampersands you use in a contract are those that appear in business (and law firm) names.
I recently saw this used as a contract title:
I’d use and instead of the ampersand, and I’d lose the blowhard’s initial capitals too! (For more about the latter, see this blog post.)
And I saw Amendment & Waiver used as a section heading. I’d use a semicolon instead (Amendment; Waiver), or I’d make them separate sections.
Why should you lose the ampersand? Because it’s too casual for regular prose. If you want to express the meaning and, use and.
So much for the ampersand!
Ampersands also appear in many URLs, particularly those for search queries.
Ken:
I really dislike section titles like “Amendment; Waiver.” It’s kind of an admission that there’s no reason that those two things are in the same section. If you want to have a bunch of random stuff in a single section, do whole hog: put all the boilerplate in one long section and call it “Other Provisions” or something.
The point of section titles is to make the skimming reader’s job easier. But if the first item were a phrase instead of a word (like “Choice of Law; Waiver”), anyone skimming titles to find the waiver section is going to skim right past it.
No semi-colons in section titles! (An ampersand is no better.)
Chris
Troo.