One issue arising in almost every bit of legal writing is whether the name of the country should be styled as “The Netherlands” or “the Netherlands” in a given context. This is complicated by the fact that sometimes just “Netherlands” is used. The Netherlands is one of those countries whose English name is preceded by a definite article. Let’s look… Read more
We recommend formality in legal correspondence. However, it’s getting increasingly difficult to do this when English-speaking lawyers themselves seem more and more to be resorting to informality, especially in e-mails. One of the teaching points is to end correspondence with “Yours sincerely” or a similar phrase when writing to someone by name. When writing to someone without referring to them… Read more
“Clichés should generally be used sparingly in any writing, but especially in legal writing”, writes Bryan Garner in Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Similar warnings are given to Dutch writers. Garner lists dozens of clichés in his legal style guides. Almost all English style guides have a section on the subject (including The Economist’s). The Oxford blog has a good… Read more
On 29 January 2014, there was an article on BBC.co.uk with this headline: “Netherlands court orders end to Pirate Bay ban”. Later in the article, the court is referred to as “a Dutch court” and “the Hague Appeals Court”. Googling around, I found an Associated Press story that also used “Dutch appeals court”. The name of this court of appeal in… Read more