June 23, 2007

Orwellian Language

Judith Fischer, University of Louisiville School of Law, has published "Why George Orwell's Ideas About Language Still Matter For Lawyers," at 68 Montana Law Review 129 (2007). Here is the abstract.
This article examines George Orwell's theories about language and applies them to contemporary legal discourse in the United States. It concludes that Orwell's advice about the importance of clear, plain English comports with today's accepted legal writing style. However, his warnings about deceptive language in legal and political discourse have not been well heeded. The article suggests that lawyers can assume a role in changing that.

Download the entire Article from SSRN here.

1 comment:

Patrick S. O'Donnell said...

Interesting essay, but I was surprised to see no reference to the work of Peter M. Tiersma, especially his book, Legal Language (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999).