Incomprehensible! : A Study of How Our Legal System Encourages Incomprehensibility, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It

Contracts, patents, regulations, disclosures, and legislation are often premised on the foundational assumption that 'more information is better'. These legal programs do not insist, however, that the information and associated communications be comprehensible. This book outlines the problem of incomprehensibility across legal fields and offers suggestions for reform.

The legal system is awash with excessive and incomprehensible information. Yet many of us assume that the unrelenting torrent of information pouring into various legal programs is both inevitable and unstoppable. We have become complacent; but it does not have to be this way. Incomprehensible! argues that surrendering to incomprehensibility is a bad mistake. Drawing together evidence from diverse fields such as consumer protection, financial regulation, patents, chemical control, and administrative and legislative processes, this book identifies a number of important legal programs that are built on the foundational assumption that ''more information is better''. Each of these legal processes have been designed in ways that ignore the imperative of meaningful communication. To rectify this systemic problem, the law must be re-designed to pay careful attention to the problem of incomprehensibility.