Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Legal Discourse & Technical Writing

Have you ever taken the time to sit down and analyze at least one legal work or document? Most individuals will respond no to this because people are not really interested in the intricate details such as writing in respect to the criminal justice system. I would like to pose this question--Without writing where would the legal justice system stand? It would be almost inoperable in my opinion. Every legal action that has ever taking place in history has been documented. These documentations govern the way in which future disputes are resolved nationwide.

The entire legal discourse has created systematic processes to govern the way in which legal writings are posed. Legal documents are designed in such a way that no matter your focus if you are apart of the legal discourse itself you will be familiar with the terminology, framework, and significance of the document in question.  To better understand this statement let’s take a look at this  Sexual Assault Petition:

http://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/documents/SA1_015.doc

This document can be a considered a technical legal document because it poses a solution to a particular problem. A petition by definition is  a written request signed by many people demanding a specific action from an authority or government.

This documents is specific and is designed to allocate for an individual who is being sexually abused. The first half of this document is gathering standard information from the party who is ordering the petition. Pay close attention to the bold sub-heading on the second page Restrain, Prohibit, Exclude.  These words were used for a particular reason they give strong meaning to the document.  Scroll down a little further to the bottom of this page and take notice to the bold heading Request for a Temporary Sexual Assault Protection Order the document's purpose is specifically stated:  An Emergency Exists as described in the statement below. Petitioner needs a temporary protection order issued. Further down on the next page the document contends to further assert its purpose by defining terms and technically describing the actions that this order of protection serves.

This paper was very effective if you were a member of this discourse community. The authors’ presented a problem and proposed a possible solution to the problem.


References

Pattern Forms Committee and the Administrative Office of the Courts, State of Washington, 2004.  http://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/index.cfm?fa=forms.contribute&formID=65

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