judge becoming “vulnerable” to being upset on appeal.
183
This is actually the
way it should be – an ill considered decision should be vulnerable on appeal.
Location of Details
If it is necessary to add details to a text there are several ways of locating
important facts and details.
(i) If the detail is short and simple it can placed
within the main body of the text itself. (ii) It can be located in footnotes. (iii) If
it is larger and coherent it can go in a table. For example, if you are writing
biography of someone, consider creating a table giving the main formal
biographical details. The table can be located in the appendix or within the
text. (iv) If you are under pressures of space and printing costs, put the
information on a website and give the website address in the appropriate part
of the book.
Succinctness
Sometimes it may be necessary to make something shorter than you would
ideally like. Some publishers have word limits on articles in journals and will
often impose a broad limit on the length of a book. Students typically have
word limits on their essays. Judges generally do not have specified limits on
judgments, but in an age of information overload, the shorter the better.
There is also some evidence that judgments are getting longer. In an informal
examination Chief Justice John Doyle found that in a 60 year period from
1935-1995 the average length of judgments in the Commonwealth Law Reports
had about tripled, in round figures from 20 pages to 60 pages.
184
Several causes of this increased length are suggested. Major culprits are
excessive reporting of judgments that increases the case law on a subject,
excessive citation of cases, repetition, prolixity, and the use of multiple
judgments rather than joint judgments.
185
There are two techniques that can assist in bringing down the length of a text.
First, if a text is properly structured, it is a simple matter to reduce its length.
Keep the structure and spare some of the details. Second, discarded
information can be preserved by placing it somewhere that is still accessible to
a reader. For example (and depending on requirements of publishers), put the
excess information in an appendix, or footnotes, publish it on a website or
___________________
183
Kitto (1992) p 788, citing Lord Diplock in Broome v Cassell [1972] 2
WLR 643, 716
184
Doyle (1999) p 740
185
Campbell (2003) p 63
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