One of the wonderous things about the English language is that in its complete form it is so expansive, full of subtlety, choices, variances, shades, exactitudes, and can be if used with correct application describe an exact meaning without chance of misunderstanding, confusion, hidden meaning, if carefully formulated and annotated by someone of the necessary skill and education to accomplish such a task. The basis of the British legal and political systems are thus correlated and has successfully withstood any attempted misuse of the systems for a millennium.
These considerations, acts, laws. were originally transcribed into print by religious bodies, as their organizations including persons of an educative level and accepted honesty to be trusted with such a vital and illustrious task. Later, when religious views and political opinions became inextricably knotted, a new independent branch of the government was formed, a civil service, instituted to produce such documents without fear of favor, outside influence, or external pressures. Thus a mutual understanding between layperson and elite was ensured, making rules and principles relevant to the highest in the land as well as the lowest. Such measures cost one King at minimum to lose his head for being too arbitrary with his understanding of the law.
There are constant calls of a simplification of the language used, that is should be written by less aloof persons, in everyday jargon. Thankfully such demands are seen for being exactly what they are, a means to make rules, laws, commandments, momentary, constantly changeable, open to personal opinion and inference, without any independent review or oversight.
Since residing in the new world, I have fallen foul of the sometimes-vague use of a reduced vocabulary in the construction of statutes and decrees, proving that the common man’s diction cannot fulfill with the clarity needed an exact reflection of the purpose and intentions of the ideas contemplated. It do occur that the reason for the cloudy nature of scripts is to create uncertainty, an ability to mask precise meaning, exact parameters, creating space a for a professional band of otherwise pointless individuals, who simply speechify, pontificate, and grandiose themselves, ad infinitum.
Daily Abstract Thoughts 