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`The Redbook
`
`A Manual on Legal Style
`
`SECOND EDITION
`
`ThEIV1SQN
`
`WEST
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`Mat #40474821
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`0002
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`

`
`The Redbook
`
`A Manual on Legal Style
`
`SECOND EDITION
`
`Bryan A. Garner
`
`with
`Jeff Newman
`Tiger Jackson
`
`0003
`
`

`
`0
`
`ISBN-13: 978-0-314-6891--7
`ISBN-10: 0-314--16891-5
`
`Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
`
`Gamer, Bryan A.
`
`The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style / Bryan A. Garner
`
`Includes bibliographical references and index.
`1. Legal Composition. 2. English language(cid:151)usage. 3. English language(cid:151)style.
`5. Law(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Language.
`4. Law(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Terminology.
`6. Law(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Methodology. 7. Printing, Practical(cid:151)United States(cid:151)Style
`
`manuals.
`
`Thomson/West have created this publication to provide you with accurate and authoritative information concerning
`the subject matter covered. However, this publication was not necessarily prepared by persons licensed to practice
`law in a particular jurisdiction. Thomson/West are not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and
`this publication is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal or other expert advice, you
`should seek the services of a competent attorney or other professional.
`
`'West, a Thomson business, 2002
`' 2006 Thomson/West
`610 Opperman Drive
`P.O. Box 64526
`St. Paul, MN 55164-0526
`1-800-328-9352
`
`Printed in the United States of America
`
`TEXT IS PRINTED ON 10%
`POST CONSUMER RECYCLED PAPER
`
`0004
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`

`
`THE REDBOOK: A MANUAL ON LEGAL STYLE
`
`things contrary to fact (including suppositions and illusions as well as
`impossible things).
`Ex.: If we were to offer $75000, would you take it?
`Ex.: Any reasonable official would have known that a choke hold was
`excessive force, but the officer acted as if qualified immunity
`would protect him.
`Ex.: The cross-examination seemed as though it were never going to
`end. (An illusion: were going to end is subjunctive.)
`Ex.: Long live rock ’n’ roll! (An exhortation: may is understood, so the
`meaning is may rock ’n’ roll live long.)
`
`(e) In fixed idioms. Use the subjunctive mood as it occurs in many fixed
`phrases.
`Ex.: If I were you .
`Ex.: If need be. .
`Ex.: So help me God .
`
`L
`L
`
`10.29 Connect every participial phrase to its subject.
`
`(a) At start of sentence. When a participial phrase begins a sentence, its
`subject should be the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that most closely
`follows. A participial phrase that modifies any other potential subject is
`called a misplaced participle or modifier. One that has no subject at all
`in the sentence is called a dangling participle.
`Ex.: In keeping with constitutional policy, the Supreme Court has
`defined a "writing" as any physical rendering of fruits of creative
`intellectual or aesthetic labor. (The subject of in keeping with
`constitutional policy is the Supreme Court.)
`Ex.: Described in dissent as "the Dred Scott decision of copyright
`law," Williams & Wilkins Co. appears not to have given serious
`consideration to the effect of defendants’ practices on plaintiff’s
`potential market. (The subject of described. . . law is Williams &
`Wilkins Co.)
`
`(b) Close to subject. If a participial phrase does not start a sentence, it
`should modify the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that most closely pre-
`cedes it.
`Ex.: The Court has held there to be no First Amendment immunity for
`a television station charged with misappropriating a performer’s
`human-cannonball act by videotaping the entire act and broad-
`casting it on a news program. (The subject of charged. . . pro-
`gram is television station.)
`Ex.: Because "malice" is a term of such variable meaning, some
`courts, influenced no doubt by the prima facie tort theory, have
`abandoned the concept of malice altogether and speak rather of
`influ-
`justifiable and unjustifiable interference. (The subject of
`enced . . . theory is courts.)
`
`(c) Misplaced and dangling modifiers. If the phrase is misplaced (not clear-
`ly connected to the word it modifies) or dangling (having no word to
`modify), edit the sentence.
`
`7 t
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`Ll
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`168
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`well as
`
`_________
`
`______
`
`d was
`ity
`
`ng to
`
`So the
`
`fixed
`
`rice, its
`closely
`bject is
`A at all
`
`ative
`
`bus
`tiff’s
`ams &
`
`nce, it
`ly pre-
`
`iity for
`ner’s
`)ad -
`pro-
`
`iave
`er of
`
`t clear-
`rord to
`
`§10-GRAMMAR: VERBS (cid:9)
`
`[IICj]
`
`Before: Often used in early America, experts suggest that sham-
`ing punishments may have a promising future in the modern
`criminal-justice system. (Often used in early America is mis-
`placed because it does not modify the nearest noun, experts.)
` After: (cid:9) Often used in early America, shaming punishments may have
`a promising future in the modern criminal-justice system,
`experts suggest.
`Better: Experts say that shaming punishments, often used in early
`America, may have a promising future in the modern criminal-
`justice system.
`
`10.30 In a compound predicate, if an auxiliary verb
`grammatically matches all the main verbs, omit it
`after its first use.
`
`(a) Style benefits. Omitting repeated words makes prose more concise and
`effective.
`Ex.: In the last 60 years, the role of the common-law judge has been
`revolutionized in civil law and amplified in criminal law. (The
`auxiliary has been is understood before the second main verb
`amplified.)
`Ex.: We can and should reform our judicial-selection process. (The
`main verb reform is understood after can.)
`
`(b) Parallel constructions. Do not use this device if the auxiliary verb must
`be changed in any way to grammatically match one of the main verbs.
`Not this: The invention must be refined to a point where a prototype
`has or could be made.
`But this: The invention must be refined to a point where a prototype
`has been or could be made.
`
`10.31 Use the past tense to describe what a court did in a
`particular case. Otherwise, when discussing the law,
`generally use the present tense.
`
`(a) Present tense as default. Prefer the present tense for legal writing unless
`there is a good reason to use another tense.
`Ex.: I argue that Cardozo was an authentic legal pragmatist in the
`tradition of Oliver Wendell Holmes and, especially, John Dewey.
`Ex.: Clarence Darrow is a folk hero, an American legend.
`
`(b) Past tense for case history. Use past tense in narratives such as events
`in a statement of facts or the procedural history of a case, both of which
`happened in the past. But use the present tense when discussing the law
`generally.
`Ex.: Abdille, a Somali national, was orphaned at an early age. He
`never learned his parents’ identity or his clan lineage. [Past tense
`to discuss history.] Clan lineage is a central feature of social and
`political life in Somalia, and a lack of clan identification can be a
`life-threatening. [Present tense to discuss law or! custom.] Abdille
`sought asylum and withholding-of-removal relief from Somalia
`and South Africa. [Past tense to discuss procedural history.]
`
`169
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