Expansion and Commentary
Notes may constitute an addendum to the text by making additional comments
or qualifications,
pursuing tangential arguments or ideas not relevant to the
immediate narrative or giving useful details, illumination, additional points or
cross references. As with citations, material of this kind is put in a note rather
than the text to avoid cluttering the text and disrupting its flow.
Putting the point shortly, in a footnote an author can expand or comment on
some point in the text without disrupting the flow of the text. While this is an
advantage in textbooks and articles, there is some dispute over the use of
footnotes in the writing of judgments.
Some writers discourage their use. Sir Harry Gibbs, for example, advises
judges to avoid the use of footnotes “which contain observations not thought
fit to be included in the judgment” because they can make a judgment appear
to be “sociological tracts or academic treatises”. Some United States texts
also urge restraint on their use.
157
Other texts encourage their use, which is evidenced by the prevalence of
footnotes in judgments in the United States.
158
This has three bases. (i) Law is
a social science and should have an academic strand underlying its practice.
Footnotes further this academic analysis. (ii) A footnote may be useful in
“digesting a body of law or in synthesising an opinion in a way that is highly
influential upon later decisions”.
159
(iii) It is justified by the relative input-output
principle. This is a principle of information economics that is discussed later.
Headings
Introduction
Generally a text should use headings, possibly along with one or more levels
of subheadings.
160
Well thought out and carefully devised headings are some of
the best friends that a writer, a reader or a browser can have. They are great
aids to clear writing and also to easy reading.
Functions
Typically a chapter of a text is divided into headings with at least some of the
headings divided into various levels of subheadings. For discussion purposes
these levels can be designated as Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and so on. The
range consists of Levels 1-n. Level 1 headings obviously constitute the main
___________________
157
Kirby (1990) pp 703-704
158
Kirby (1990) p 703
159
Kirby (1990) p 703
160
Denning (1983) p 64
 |
 |
 |