such). For example: “X is a complicated term and is the subject of dispute
among social scientists. Broadly, though, X refers to Y+Z”.
There are criticisms of the plain English movement in that it does not always
lead to good prose. Some “lawyers”, Sir Harry Gibbs points out, “have
written clear, elegant English for centuries, their ability to do so being drawn
from a liberal education and wide
reading,”
221
or less frequently “from an
untutored natural gift, as opposed to the study of books of instruction in the
use of plain language”.
222
Literary Devices
Using literary devices appropriately can add to the quality of a text. However,
using them inappropriately can damage your quality. For example, an overused
metaphor becomes a cliché while an out of place metaphor is flashy or trashy.
Some of the major literary devices are contradiction, comparison, and sound
appeal.
Contradiction
Contradiction grabs attention because there is some inconsistency, but there is
also some point to the inconsistency. Two common forms are the oxymoron
and the paradox.
In the Ballad of Reading Gaol
Oscar Wilde proclaims:
“Each man kills the
thing he loves”. In the Pascal Preface (Praefatio Paschalis) of the Roman
Missal (Missale Romanum) the Catholic Church proclaims the mystery of the
cross "mortem nostram moriendo destruxit” –
by dying for us [Jesus]
destroyed death. In her poem Pain Emily Dickenson deploys contradiction to
explain the plight of the besotted lover: “Parting is all we know of heaven And
all we need to know of hell”.
223
Contradiction can easily portray the high dramas of life that these quotations
portray. These may be less likely to occur in technical legal writing but can
more easily be deployed in writing that is considering law in some wider
context such as a historical perspective or an evaluation of the effect of some
law. For example, in a text on welfare law the expression “orphans of the
living” is an acute means of portraying the plight of an abandoned child. In a
___________________
221
Gibbs (1993) p 501
222
Gibbs (1993) p 501
223
The world of song gives some examples. (i) There is a country and
western song entitled “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away”. (ii) In 1974 the
Righteous Brothers sang a song entitled “Rock and Roll Heaven” (and the
title has a tautological ring). In this song there are lines that say: “If
there's a rock and roll heaven, Well you know they've got a hell of a band.”
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