Mark Adler: Try your hand at plain drafting



Here's a piece of traditional legal text.

Try writing it in clear, modern English. You can then scroll down if you wish to see my suggested version.


Save that by clause 6 of the said Agreement, the Claimant was allowed by the Defendant into possession and occupation of "the storage area" in order to carry out in a good and workmanlike manner and to the reasonable satisfaction of the Landlord's Surveyor, the works set out in a Section 146 Notice, a copy of which was annexed to the said Agreement and save that by Clause 10 of the said Agreement the Claimant was to comply with the said Section 146 Notice and save that by Clause 11 of the said Agreement the Claimant was to so comply within three months from the date of the said Agreement, that is, by 3rd September 1987 and that provided the said Notice was complied with within that time the Defendant agreed to grant the Claimant a supplementary Lease of the "storage area", Paragraph 1 of the Particulars of Claim is admitted.



















Revised version


Paragraph 1 of the particulars of claim is admitted, except that:
(a)By clause 6 of the agreement the defendant allowed the claimant into possession of the storage area to carry out* the work required by a section 146 notice.
(b)By clauses 10 and 11 of the agreement the claimant was to comply with the notice by 3 September 1987.
(c)By clause 11 of the agreement the claimant would grant the defendant a supplementary lease of the storage area if the claimant complied with the notice by that deadline.

* Add "in a workmanlike manner" if that is in issue and was not specified by the notice.


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Last updated: 21 June 2007