South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-01-19
WITH OTHER EDITORS
THAN OURS
\ DEAD LANGUAGE.
Chicago Post.)


dress reproduced in the current is
sue of the Illinois Law Review, tells
in this detail how the lawyer turns
simple, colloquial. disable English
into a dead language"
IF a man comes to a lawyer and
tells him that he has sold goods to
another and not received his pay
and wants a suit brought to enforce
his rights, he may show to the law
yer a written contract evidencing the
agreement of sale.
That contract may be expressed
in two kilograms. one of which, from
the seller to the buyer, would read:
offer to sell 1000 tons of pig iron.
$3.50 per ton, delivery 80 days, f. o.
b. South Chicago docks, payment 80
days, draft against bill of lading."
And the other would say, Accept
ed" A complete. perfect, enforcible
contract sent by one live man to
another live man over a live wire.
And, having read it i'm the language
of the living. the lawyer brings suit,
and then he says: Now We will tell
the court about it,
And so. for the purpose of tell
ing the court about it, he translates
it into the language of the dead.
And for that purpose he goes into
his mausoleum and selects from
among the solemn cerements of the
dead a document already decorated
or mutilated-with 700 words, on
which he finds inscribed the name
Common Counts. And by "A few
strokes of the pen he makes this
document by the insertion of a few
names and dates. refer to the in
/ dividual case in which he is retained.
And thus he has, by this transla-
ton expanded the simple. plain
statement OF the contract made be-
/ tween these two live men into this
elongated formal and formida bic
statement.
And the first part OF it begins
I WIN OH ave. AANhN AAAehA NAAN RAaAAAAAlA
/ has sold TO the defendant goods,
wares and merchandise these
/ three words where one would amply
/ suffice. but not using one which de-
/ scribes or suggests the kind of goods
which were the subject of the sale.
! SO far as this document is con-
cerned, il might be either pig iron
! or pigs or potash or pearls. And
/ this he does not because it is the
way he thinks or the way he speaks,
but because it is the idiom of the
dead language which he feels bound
i to employ.
And then. having made this con-
3 cealing statement of the facts. and
/ having worded il i'm the formal Ian
guage familiar TO the men who knew
I Westminster hall when il was a
modern building. he gives rein. as
+ they did. To his fancy. and proceeds
\ TO aver that a whole lot of things
| took place between these parties
that the plaintiff sold other goods.
wares and merchandise of different
kinds. that he worked. and worked
/ hard. for the defendant; that he lent
/ him money. and had an accounting
with him OF various transactions be-
I tween them. That, in short. between
I these two innocent bystanders there
\ had taken place all of the transac-
\ tons which can occur between men
and result in money liability.
And that he does. not By the use
\ Of the English language which he
uses in his own transactions. or
which anybody at any time has ever
used in his own transactions. but
: only because 1t is the idiom and form
! OF the dead language which ne feels
\ bound 10 employ"
We have seen "A good many keen
/ and logical pleas for the abandon
ment OF legal English" We never
saw one that included the whole fact
and argument as neatly and com
pletely as this one illustrative case
OF Mr.. Tenney's.
Newspapers all over the United
States. please copy.
uAR ERIIX ANCEC