South African legalese/plain English

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

     From THE STAR (Johannesburg), 7 July 1999, Classified, pg. 1, cols. 2-6:

_Forget Legalese--give the people English_
A study has found that consumers prefer plain language.
_Sharon Hendricks_ reports.

     A recent study, the first of its kind in South Africa, has found that
most consumers and lawyers prefer plain legal language.
     Significantly but not surprisingly, the researchers concluded that
simpler legal language would help make the law more understandable to the
person in the street and was likely to contribute towards solving the long
existing legitimacy crisis of the law.
     The study was presented to a plain legal language conference hosted by
the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria.
     Contributors included respected legal academic Professor Ellison Kahn of
the University of the Witwatersrand, chief state law adviser Enver Daniels
and Mark Adler; head of a UK law firm and author of the book, _Clarity for
Lawyers_.  Adler also heads Clarity, an international movement that promotes
the use of plain legal and official language.
(...)