Book Northamptonshire Law Society
Review
I recently came by a rare book, a first edition, which was a landmark in the history of property conveyancing. When I was an articled clerk (we weren’t called trainee solicitors), there were no efficient copying machines or computers. Title deeds (most land was unregistered) had to be copied by hand or typed on a sit up and beg manual typewriter, usually made pre-war. Those of us who had to do this tedious task shortened the words as much as we could to save time and trouble eg a deed was a dd and dwellinghouse became dwghse. It was called abstracting and somewhere I have a booklet on the subject called helpfully “The Art of Abstracting”, sadly now redundant. It is said that lawyers, particularly scriveners, were paid by the folio or word. Documents were long and rather boring and,
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until only a few years ago, they were handwritten and often difficult to read. In January 1964 a book was published by Butterworths called “Parkers modern conveyancing precedents”. The title was in lower case. Revolutionary stuff. Parker’s theory was that documents should be as short and clear as possible but even he referred to Vendors and Purchasers rather than buyers and sellers. Since Parker,the Plain English Society and the Crystal Mark have encouraged the clearer use of language. There is still a tendency for lawyers to try and impress by using long words. Res Ipsa Loquitur!
