Legal Style Blog
@legalstyle.co.uk
A web-log on legal style, with a focus on England & Wales. Also home of the ‘In the Privy Council’ podcast and the novelty @tritelaw.bsky.social account. Editor: Mr Elijah Z Granet @ezgra.net. Web: legalstyle.co.uk ; e-mail: editor [at] legalstyle.co.uk
In "annals of legal chutzpah," murderer Leopold (of "& Loeb" fame) sued to stop a film à clef (COMPULSION, a fave) about his crime, saying the fictionalized aspects hurt him in the community. Ill. Sup. Ct.: you murdered a kid; there's no fiction about you that worsens your rep.
Fascinated to learn that, though not common, it remains possible to bring a common law petition of right as a remedy in contract against the King in situations not covered by the Crown Proceedings Act 1947. Franklin v Attorney General [1974] QB 185, 201, HC per Lawson J.
Looked this up out of curiosity and it's fascinating when states (here Ohio and Oregon) insist on terms no other state uses. What other examples are there of a state using a unique name for a common offense, procedure, or law?
In keeping with the GPO style guide, the Supreme Court uses an en-dash (–) not a hyphen (-) in MS–13 (so it's not MS-13). It's an odd quirk of federal style
If you want to really annoy a lawyer, just try citing bits from law reports like you would any other book chapter ;)
The official proclamation of Australia's dissolution is not befitting the great Commonwealth… so I re-typeset it! God save the King of Australia! Pathetic original below
There's a lot of debate on the best list format for law. Some people like Roman (I,II, III or i, ii, iii), others alpha (a, b, c), others numeric (1, 2, 3). I, however, prefer the bra size method of listing, which I think is the clearest way to tabulate.
Flipping through Family Law textbook, an area that necessarily has a lot of anonymised case. But there are no less than 57 citations with the title ‘Re: A’. Petition to adopt the @legalstyle.co.uk suggestion of deploying full throated pseudonyms in www.legalstyle.co.uk/2022/12/styl...
Styling family cases
Don't put the generic titles in the styling
legalstyle.co.uk
A few excerpts from one of my favourite essays (always a delight to return to), L. Sprague de Camp’s “Language for Time Travellers”
'It is trite to say that merely preferring one party's case to that advanced by the other cannot, of itself, give rise to a sustainable claim of apparent bias.' In re Haberlin's Appl'n [2025] NIKB 13, ¶ 33, KBD per Humphreys J. www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NI...
Haberlin, Re Application for Judicial Review [2025] NIKB 13 (27 February 2025)
bailii.org
A great judge, a true wordsmith, and an author any editor would enjoy working with.
Legal Style Blog@legalstyle.co.uk · 2y agoI **ADORE** this little article from Green Bag by a federal judge explaining how he first coined a word and then worked to use it in an opinion so it could make it into Black's Law Dictionary greenbag.org/v13n2/v13n2_...
I **ADORE** this little article from Green Bag by a federal judge explaining how he first coined a word and then worked to use it in an opinion so it could make it into Black's Law Dictionary greenbag.org/v13n2/v13n2_...
Quite an arresting opening line: 'This is an unusual probate claim in that the deceased says she is very much alive.' www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Ashimola & Anor v Samuel & Anor [2025] EWHC 502 (Ch) (10 March 2025)
bailii.org
Someone accused of criminal contempt in the Delaware Court of Chancery has a right to be considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of *equity*. See, e.g., State v. Klein, 123 A.2d 740 (Del. Ch. 1956).
Library catalogues should not use academic diacritics like this, meaningless and confusing and bad for typeface support, for public listings. Associate the canonical academic transliteration with a name conforming to more standard Cyrillic-English renderings…
I recently finished Nabokov's Pnin, the first book of his that I've read, and, whilst I am very late to this party… wow, what an incredible writer. The awesome adjectives and alliteration alone are astounding!
The trial of the attacker (just convicted) against Sir Salman Rushdie is a good illustration of the quirks of inchoate offences: attempted murder requires an intent to kill, yet murder doesn't. (This is basic stuff to lawyers but for non-legal followers…)
Can someone please explain to me why on earth NextDNS allows this option to be turned off?
This would be remarkably more convincing if the ABA hadn't supported the "Twenty-eighth amendment" pseudo claims. They destroyed their credibility, which is a shame, because convincing advocates for the law are needed
Asha Rangappa@asharangappa.bsky.social · 2y ago“These stories should concern all Americans because they are our family members, neighbors and friends. No American can be proud of a government that carries out change in this way.” The American Bar Association speaks out. Please read and share. www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...
2 things from the memo dismissing the case against Eric Adams: 1) oddly the Dep. AG cited the Hyde Amend't [crim. not abortion] by Pub.-L. yet it's 18 U.S.C. § 3006A note. The confusion of statutory notes strikes again 2) What on earth does Vickor Bout have to do with things?
A helpful guide to avoiding a common spelling error thanks to confusion of the #severance tv show and the Prime Minister!
'It is trite law to say that each case is fact specific and that a sentencing judge has a unique feel of any case.' R v Donnelly [2025] NICA 7, para 30 per Keegan LCJ. www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NI...
https://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NICA/2025/7.html
t.co
I don't think I can keep watching the #severance show given that in the latest episode the same book is shown first printed in Garamond Premier Pro Caption (small optical size has distinct 'W') and then later in Times New Roman. Disgracefully poor attention to detail
NEW PEERS ALERT! Including for former Downing Street chief Sue Gray. Meanwhile… how does one pronounce Auchenroch?
I strongly endorse being so pedantic as to join in a concurrence save two footnotes
