THE TENDENCY OF UTILIZING PLAIN ENGLISH IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS IN THE FUTURE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH Major: Legal English THE TENDENCY OF UTILIZING PLAIN ENGLISH IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS IN THE FUTURE Supervisor: Cao Dang Quynh Tram, M.A Student: Nguyen Thi Ha Student ID: 1652202010019 Class: LE41 Ho Chi Minh City, 2020 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of making this dissertation, I have received a lot of support from my lecturers, my friends, and my family There are no words that can express my appreciation for the help they have given me Firstly, I wish to thank my supervisor Ms Cao Dang Quynh Tram for her instructions and supports during the time I wrote this thesis She was so patient and kind when helping me complete this thesis even sometimes I failed to follow the timeline properly Also, as always, I thank my lecturers Mr Nham Thanh Lap and Ms Tran Hoang Tu Linh for their valuable comments on my writing as well as the deep knowledge of English they have taught me Besides, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Ms Le Thi Xuan Thu, my four-year study counsellor, for her commitments contributed not only to me but to all my classmates I really appreciate my friends Pham Thu Huong and Ngo Kim Thanh for their work on giving me advice and pointing out mistakes in my writing In preparing this thesis, I made considerable use of online library at Swinburne University‘s website: https://www.swinburne.edu.au/ as reference It was an indirect site for me to access to the materials I need, I would like to thank my brother Nguyen Phan Hiep Anh, a student at Swinburn University, for his support and assistance in providing me with this precious and reliable source of knowledge Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family for what they have done throughout the writing process of my thesis and my life in general Ho Chi Minh City, June 1, 2020 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS p Page pp Pages n Note number No Number Vol Volume PEC Plain English Campaign etc Et cetera: and other similar things U.S United States UK United Kingdom ed edition LGA Local Government Association SEC U.S Securities and Exchange Commission TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE STUDY’S NECESSITY 1.2 STUDY OBJECTIVES 1.3 RESEARCH SUBJECTS 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1.5 RESEARCH’S QUESTION: 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS CHAPTER 2: PLAIN LANGUAGE, A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAIN LANGUAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS 2.1 PLAIN LANGUAGE (PLAIN ENGLISH) VERSUS TRADITIONAL LEGAL LANGUAGE? 2.2 HISTORY OF PLAIN LANGUAGE 2.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAIN LANGUAGE IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS 14 CHAPTER 3: THE APPLICATION OF PLAIN ENGLISH INTO ACTUAL LEGAL TEXTS 17 CHAPTER 4: VIEWS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PLAIN ENGLISH IN LEGAL DOCUMENTS 23 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 29 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE STUDY’S NECESSITY Legal practice is one of the most developing fields which affect people in various aspects, including family relations (residence, marriage, divorce, adoption), business relations (enterprise registration, trade, franchise, investment), to name just a few In fact, each person is protected by their own national law and their acts must follow it as a tool to keep up the relation between them and the state By a method applied by almost countries in the world, the competent authorities undertake to enact laws and other legal regulations to govern the social relations and protect rights of citizens and assure that they will abide by the laws Consequently, this process must be performed in the most appropriate way Law-abiding citizens are believed to be protected by the law Therefore, in order that each person can become a law-abiding person, it is necessary for the law to be easily complied with Though ones involved in this area are both professionals and lay people, legal texts are ―unnecessarily lengthy, overwritten, self-conscious and repetitious[, they] consist of lengthy sentences and involved sentence construction[, they] are poorly structured and poorly designed[, they] suffer from elaborate and often unnecessary crossreferencing‖1 That is the reason why the legal system of each country needs to be kept in the most effective manner, from the way to be expressed to the way to be understood by ordinary people As a matter of fact, it is difficult to write well even many colleges or university graduates or accountants or doctors or businesspeople sometimes are not good writers In respect of legal sphere, due to its enormous impacts on people‘s lives, choosing the language to be applied is crucial and needs much consideration Plain English and the Law: The 1987 Report Republished with a New Preface/Victorian Law Reform Commission, p 8, available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SibpolPC8ZlhOhpm970RUINBTd7eGYPX?fbclid=IwAR0zSf8UXyjDY ay3LgEcgInYxPTD2xLby1WozC77MiicSEgIkCjygoW2meo The idea of substituting legalese for plain language2, not a whole new idea, to be used in legal texts can be worth considering since ―[the] use of plain English saves everyone time and money and makes the law directly relevant to those who are affected by it‖3 This tendency has already been supported and started in many countries while there is still controversy from others‘ perspectives which argue for the use of traditional legal language Having said that, opinions on the change to language used in legal texts give a doubt to the inadequacy in the traditional writing style and the demand to find a "magic bullet"4 in using an appropriate legal language In order words, if the traditional legal language satisfies the expects of all involving parties including both the drafters and the recipients, there will be no chance for plain language to arise in this area Whether or not plain language is worth efforts is hard to confirm; however, the propensity toward the use of plain English will be clarified in this dissertation 1.2 STUDY OBJECTIVES This thesis aims to provide a general knowledge of the plain language, or more specifically plain language‘s definition and history in some English-speaking countries Besides, an approach to the application of plain language into actual legal texts is also included in this writing By following the plain language movement, some professionals‘ viewpoints will be presented to provide readers with general views on the problem of legal drafting language Finally, with all the information in relation to the past and present of plain English emergence, the main purpose of this dissertation is to access to the tendency of using plain English in legal English texts in the future and to predict whether or not it will replace traditional legal language to the whole extent ―Plain language‖ and ―plain English‖ can be used or mentioned interchangeably because the research subjects of this thesis are completely in English-speaking countries John Pease, Plain English: A solution for effective communication, November 2012, available at: http://acla.acc.com/documents/item/1065 ―Magic bullet‖ means ―a fast and effective solution to a serious problem‖ See Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, available at: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/magic-bullet 1.3 RESEARCH SUBJECTS Because this is a study of an academic aspects regarding legal sphere, I make a decision to choose legal Acts and regulations in respect of the change to legal writing as the main subjects researched due to its reliable characteristic On the other hand, I also include articles and books written by legal experts with contents regarding their study on plain language as well as an evaluation of plain English‘s effectiveness when being applied in legal texts 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY During the time writing this thesis, several research methods were applied with the purpose of presenting a persuasive information on the plain, specifically:  Comparative method: Following different studies on the comparison of corresponding legal documents before and after applying plain language to give an answer about the utility and effectiveness of plain language  Analyzing and synthesizing method: Presenting information from different academic resources, including legal Acts, regulations, articles, law reviews, news, and the like to analyze how much plain language is used, how effective plain language is, and common plain English words is used to replace the traditional ones Actual legal contents were discussed before drawing any conclusion of each matters presented  Historical method: Presenting different historical piece of information in documents about plain language to mention the emergence of plain language as well as its development process 1.5 RESEARCH’S QUESTION: The question arising from this thesis is the potential substitution of traditional legal language for plain English in the future To be specific, this thesis will draw a general picture of the utility and comments on the plain English in legal texts, leading to the prediction of the future of plain language 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: PLAIN LANGUAGE, A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAIN LANGUAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS CHAPTER 3: THE APPLICATION OF PLAIN ENGLISH INTO ACTUAL LEGAL TEXTS CHAPTER 4: VIEWS ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PLAIN ENGLISH IN LEGAL DOCUMENTS CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION CHAPTER 2: PLAIN LANGUAGE, A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLAIN LANGUAGE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN LEGAL ENGLISH TEXTS 2.1 PLAIN LANGUAGE (PLAIN ENGLISH) VERSUS TRADITIONAL LEGAL LANGUAGE? PLAIN LANGUAGE According to the website of Oxford Learner Dictionary, ―in plain English‖ means ―simply and clearly expressed, without using technical language‖5 Based on the report ―Plain English: A solution for effective communication‖ which was presented by Professor John Pease, plain English ―refers to language that is clear, direct, and straightforward It is language that avoids obscurity, inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction It is language that allows readers to concentrate on the message conveyed, not on the difficulty of the language used Plain English uses the right word for the right occasion and does not use unnecessary words‖6 Legal texts containing plain English not mean applying wholly a set of ordinary, simple, daily-used English or using solely your simplifying language However, utilizing plain English is defined as a writing style that is ―clear, concise, wellorganized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience‖.7 In other words, it is not necessary without jargons, plain English is ―clear English – it is simple and direct but not simplistic‖.8 In any type of legal documents, the concentration must be giving ―a cooperative, motivated person a good https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/plain_1?q=plain John Pease, Plain English: A solution for effective communication, November 2012 http://acla.acc.com/documents/item/1065 Plain Writing Act of 2010 (United States), October 1, 2010, passed Congress, section 3(3) John Pease, Plain English: A solution for effective communication, November 2012 http://acla.acc.com/documents/item/1065 BIBLIOGRAPHY Brian Hunt, Plain Language in Legislative Drafting: Is it Really the Answer, Statute Law Review, 2002, Vol.23(1), available at: https://academic-oupcom.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/slr/article/23/1/24/1727631 (Accessed on April 15, 2020) Catalina Riera, Plain English in Legal Language: A Comparative Study of Two UK Acts of Parliament, Alicante Journal of English Studies 28 (2015), available at: https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/54183/1/RAEI_28_08.pdf (Accessed on April 11, 2020) Christopher Williams, Changing with the Times: The Evolution of Plain Language in the Legal Sphere, Alicante Journal of English Studies 28 (2015), pp 195-196, available at: https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/54185/1/RAEI_28_10.pdf (Accessed on April 20, 2020) Dr Sean Cunningham, The language of Government and the power of plain English, blog, available at: https://history.blog.gov.uk/2017/04/19/thelanguage-of-government-and-the-power-of-plain-english/ (Accessed on April 4, 2020) Fred Rodell, Goodbye to Law Reviews, 1936, Yale Law School – Faculty Scholarship Series, available at: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/2762/ (Accessed on April 7, 2020) Fred Rodel, Woe Unto You, Lawyers!, available at: https://www.constitution.org/lrev/rodell/woe_unto_you_lawyers.htm (Accessed on April 7, 2020) Gillian Gillies, The Anglicisation of English Law, Te Mata Koi: Auckland University Law Review, Vol 17, 2011, http://www.nzlii.org/nz/journals/AukULawRw/2011/8.pdf (Accessed on April 4, 2020) John Pease, Plain English: A solution for effective communication, November 2012, available at: http://acla.acc.com/documents/item/1065 (Accessed on April 2, 2020) Johanna Stewart, Plain language: From 'movement' to 'profession', Australian Journal of Communication, Vol 37, No 2, 2010, available at: https://searchproquestcom.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/docview/883650390/fulltextPDF/F678F74894D94 61APQ/1?accountid=14205 (Accessed on April 7, 2020) 10 Joseph Kimble, Answering the critics of plain language, The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, Annual, 1994, Vol.5 11 Joseph Kimble, How to mangle court rules and jury institutions, The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, Annual, 2001, Vol.8, available at: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer ?vid=1&sid=4387e020-26c3-44bc-b7fd-e550a0aced8c%40pdc-v-sessmgr05 (Accessed on April 11, 2020) 12 Joyce Hannah Swaney et al., Editing for Comprehension: Improving the Process through Reading Protocols, in PLAIN LANGUAGE: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 173, 177, 185 (Erwin R Steinberg ed., 1991) 13 Martin Cutts, The Oxford Guide to Plain English, available at: https://books.google.com.vn/books?id=9SA0UKfruwwC&pg=PR11&lpg=PR1 1&dq=%22cooperative,+motivated+person+a+good+chance%22&source=bl& ots=I7Vf86PtTN&sig=ACfU3U1fp4yGjDcqzg_XSM6YfFt2sB5Lw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRr_yR_8noAhVRBKYKHXFUArsQ6A EwAXoECAwQKA#v=onepage&q=%22cooperative%2C%20motivated%20pe rson%20a%20good%20chance%22&f=false (Accessed on April 3, 2020) 14 MARTIN CUTTS, LUCID LAW 15 Michele M Asprey, Plain Language for Lawyers, Federation Press, 2010,Chapter 4: Plain language around the world 16 Michael Kirby, How I learned to drop Latin and love plain legal language [online], LAW SOCIETY JOURNAL, Vol 51, No 2, March 2013, p 65 Availability: https://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=20130632;res=AGISPT ISSN: 1839-5287 (Accessed on April 30, 2020) 17 Peggy Gale Bivins, Implementing Plain Language Into Legal Documents: The Technical Communicator‟s Role, B.A University of Central Florida, 2005, available at: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0002022/Bivins_Peggy_G_200805_MA.pdf (Accessed on April 15, 2020) 18 Rabeea Assy, Can the Law Speak Directly to its Subjects? The Limitation of Plain Language, JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY VOLUME 38, NUMBER 3, SEPTEMBER 2011, available at: https://www.academia.edu/3044395/Can_the_Law_Speak_Directly_to_Its_Sub jects_The_Limitation_of_Plain_Language (Accessed on April 16, 2020) 19 Richard Powell, Language Choice in Postcolonial Law: Lessons from Malaysia‟s Bilingual Legal System, 1st ed 2020, published by Singapore: Springer, available at: https://link-springercom.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-981-15-11738_10.pdf (Accessed on April 4, 2020) 20 Robert P Charrow & Veda R Charrow, Making Legal Language Understandable: A Psycholinguistic Study of Jury Institution, 79 COLUM L REV 1306, 1370 btl.14 (1979) 21 Stephen Hunt, Drafting: plain English versus legalese, Waikato law review, 1995, Vol 3, available at: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/ data/assets/pdf_file/0010/125200/Waikato-LawReview-vol-3-1995.pdf (Accessed on April 3, 2020) 22 The Plain English Campaign, Drafting in plain English, website, available at: http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/campaigning/past-campaigns/legal/drafting-inplain-english.html (Accessed on May 30, 2020) 23 U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, A Plain English Handbook: How to create clear SEC disclosure documents, August 1998, Available at: https://www.sec.gov/pdf/handbook.pdf (Accessed on April 15, 2020) 24 Willem H Van Boom & Pieter Desmet & Mark Van Dam, "If It's Easy to Read, It's Easy to Claim" The Effect of the Readability of Insurance Contracts on Consumer Expectations and Conflict Behaviour, the article published by Journal of Consumer Policy, Jun 2016, Vol.39(2), available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10603-016-9317-9 (Accessed on April 3, 2020) 25 William J Clinton, Memorandum of June 1, 1998, Plain Language in Government Writing, The White House, Washington, June 3, 1998 Legal Acts and other legal documents: Executive Order 12044, Federal Register Vol 43, March 24, 1978 Executive Order 14-07 Implementing Plain Language in the Executive Branch, Executive Department, State of Minnesota, March 4, 2014 New York General Obligations Law, Section 5-702, available at: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/5-702 (Accessed on April 10, 2020) 'November 1650: An Act for turning the Books of the Law, and all Process and Proceedings in Courts of Justice, into English.', in Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660, ed C H Firth and R S Rait (London, 1911), British History Online,http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinancesinterregnum/pp455-456 (Accessed on April 4, 2020) Plain Writing Act of 2010 (United States), October 1, 2010, passed Congress, section 3(3) PUBLIC LAW 111–274—OCT 13, 2010, available at: https://www.fda.gov/media/84926/download (Accessed on April 11, 2020) Report of the Renton Committee on the Preparation of Legislation, 1975, available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historichansard/lords/1975/dec/10/renton-committee-report-on-legislation (Accessed on April 5, 2020) Websites: The Plain English Campaign, http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/about-us.html (Accessed on April 5, 2020) Clarity, https://clarity-international.net/about/ (Accessed on April 7, 2020) Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/gobbledegook?q =gobbledygook https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/magic -bullet (Accessed on April 7, 2020) Michael Kirby, https://www.michaelkirby.com.au/ (Accessed on April 20, 2020) Michael Kirby (judge), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kirby_(judge) (Accessed on April 20, 2020) News: Councils get banned jargon list, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7948894.stm (Accessed on April 2020) APPENDIX WATER ACT 1973 OF UK PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 18TH JULY 1973, SECTION 11 VS WATER ACT 2014 OF UK PUBLIC GENERAL ACTS, 14TH MAY 2014, SECTION 31 Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ Note: These excerpts aim to provide a comparison of the utility of the word ―shall‖ in corresponding sections about ―Water supply‖ between Water Acts 1973 and Water Act 2014 of the UK‘s legislation The word ―shall‖ has been underlined for clear recognition WATER ACT 1973 11 Water supply (1) It shall be the duty of a water authority to supply water within their area (2) It shall be the duty of every local authority to take such steps from time to time as may be necessary for ascertaining the sufficiency and wholesomeness of water supplies within their area and to notify the water authority of any insufficiency or unwholesomeness in those supplies (3) Where the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say— (a) a local authority notify a water authority that the supply of water to specified premises in the local authority's area is insufficient or unwholesome to the extent of causing a danger to health ; and (b) a supply of wholesome water by the water authority for domestic purposes is required for those premises and it is not practicable to provide such a supply in pipes, but is practicable to provide such a supply otherwise, at a reasonable cost; it shall be the duty of the water authority to provide a supply of wholesome water otherwise than in pipes for domestic purposes to, or within a reasonable distance of, those premises (4) Any dispute between the local authority and the water authority as to the insufficiency or unwholesomeness of any supply of water or whether it causes a danger to health shall be determined by the Secretary of State (5) If any question arises under subsection (3) above whether or not any description of supply of water can be provided at a reasonable cost in the area of a local authority, the Secretary of State, if requested to so by the local authority, by a parish or community council or by ten or more local government electors in that area, shall after consulting that authority and the water authority, determine that question, and the water authority shall give effect to his determination (6) Subject to subsections (7) and (9) below, any functions exercisable by statutory water undertakers as such under any enactment or instrument shall be exercisable also by water authorities and shall not be exercisable by local authorities, and accordingly (but subject as aforesaid) references in any enactment or instrument to statutory water undertakers as such shall be construed as references to water authorities, statutory water companies, joint water boards and joint water committees, and to no other body (7) The following provisions shall have effect with respect to the supply of water:— (a) in sections 27, 36 and 37 of the [1945 c 42.] Water Act 1945 (miscellaneous duties as to the supply of water) references to statutory water undertakers shall be construed as references only to water authorities; (b) subject to any provision to the contrary contained in any instrument made under or by virtue of this Act, Parts VII and IX of Schedule to that Act (supply of water for domestic purposes, and duties as to constancy of supply and pressure) shall apply throughout every water authority area, whether or not applied by or under any other enactment; and (c) references in those Parts to statutory water undertakers shall be construed as references only to water authorities (8) Section 10 of that Act (variation of limits of supply) shall not authorise the Secretary of State to vary the boundary between two water authority areas (9) No functions shall be exercisable by local authorities under Part IV of the [1936 c 49.] Public Health Act 1936, except under sections 123, 124(1) and (2), 125(1) and (2), 137, 138, 140 and 141, and accordingly that Part of that Act, except those provisions and section 142, shall cease to have effect (10) In this section, except subsection (6), "local authority" does not include a county council or the Greater Loudon Council WATER ACT 2014 31 Interim duty: water supply For section 63AC of the Water Industry Act 1991 (interim duty of water undertaker: domestic and non-domestic supply) there is substituted— ―63AC (1) Interim duty: domestic and non-domestic supply This section applies where— (a) a water supply licensee (―the previous licensee‖) ceases to supply any premises with water, and (b) the owner or occupier of the premises has not notified the water undertaker in whose area the premises are that— (i) he has made arrangements for the continuation of the supply of water to the premises, or (ii) (2) he intends any supply of water to the premises to cease It is to be the duty of the water undertaker to continue the supply of water to the premises which was made by the previous licensee (3) But the Authority may give a direction to an eligible water supply licensee (an ―interim licensee‖) providing that it is to be the duty of that licensee to continue the supply instead (4) An ―eligible water supply licensee‖ is a water supply licensee with a retail authorisation or a restricted retail authorisation who has elected to be an eligible water supply licensee for the purposes of this section in accordance with the code issued under section 63AF (5) If the Authority proposes to give a direction under subsection (3) to an eligible water supply licensee— (a) the Authority must give notice of the proposed direction to the licensee, (b) the licensee may, in accordance with the code issued under section and 63AF, temporarily suspend the election made by the licensee as mentioned in subsection (4), so that the proposed direction cannot be given to the licensee (6) Where a supply is made by an undertaker under subsection (2)— (a) the charges payable in respect of the supply are to be fixed from time to time by a charges scheme under section 143, and (b) subject to subsection (12), the supply is to be made until— (i) a supply is made by an interim licensee by virtue of a direction under subsection (3), (ii) a supply is made by a water supply licensee following the service of a notice under section 63AA or 63AB; (iii) a supply is made under section 52 or 55, or (iv) a notice is served by the undertaker on the owner or occupier of the premises stating that the supply is to be discontinued (subject to subsection (8)), whichever is the earlier (7) Where a supply is made by an interim licensee by virtue of a direction given under subsection (3)— (a) the supply by the interim licensee is to be treated as having begun on the date on which the previous licensee ceased to supply the premises, (b) the terms and conditions in accordance with which the supply is to be made are to be— (i) those provided for by a scheme made under section 63AE, or (ii) such other terms and conditions as may be agreed between the interim licensee and the owner or occupier of the premises, and (c) subject to subsection (12), the supply is to be made until it is discontinued in accordance with the terms and conditions mentioned in paragraph (b) (8) A notice under subsection (6)(b)(iv) may not be served before the end of the period of three months beginning with the day on which the supply by the previous licensee ceased (9) Subsections (10) and (11) apply if, within a period of three months beginning with the date on which the previous licensee ceased to supply the premises with water, the owner or occupier of the premises serves notice— (a) under section 63AA or 63AB, on the water undertaker continuing the supply under subsection (2), or 10 (b) in accordance with the terms and conditions mentioned in subsection (7)(b), on the interim licensee continuing the supply by virtue of a direction given under subsection (3), that instead another water supply licensee (―the new licensee‖) is to continue the supply of water to the premises which was made by the previous licensee (10) The notice must— (a) specify the time from which the new licensee is to continue the supply in question, and (b) (11) be served in accordance with the code issued under section 63AF In the case of a notice served as mentioned in subsection (9)(a), the supply by the new licensee is to be treated as having begun on the date on which the previous licensee ceased to supply the premises (12) Supplies of water under this section are subject to sections 60 to 63 63AD Interim duty: supplementary (1) A water undertaker is not required by virtue of section 63AC to provide a supply of water to any premises if the provision of the supply would— (a) require the undertaker, in order to meet all its existing obligations to supply water for domestic or other purposes, together with its probable future obligations to supply buildings and parts of buildings with water for domestic purposes, to incur unreasonable expenditure in carrying out works, or (b) otherwise put at risk its ability to meet any of the existing or probable future obligations mentioned in paragraph (a) (2) The Authority may determine, in a case referred to it by the owner or occupier of the premises in question, whether the condition in subsection (1) is satisfied in relation to a water undertaker 11 (3) Before the Authority determines whether that condition is satisfied, it must consult— (a) the Secretary of State, in the case of a water undertaker whose area is wholly or mainly in England; (b) the Welsh Ministers, in the case of a water undertaker whose area is wholly or mainly in Wales (4) The supply of water to any premises by a water undertaker under section 63AC does not prevent a proposed supply to those premises by that undertaker under section 55 from being regarded as a new supply for the purposes of that section (5) Where a duty is imposed by section 63AC(2), or by virtue of a direction given under section 63AC(3), in respect of any premises, any breach of the duty which causes the owner or occupier of the premises to sustain loss or damage is actionable at the suit of that owner or occupier (6) But in any proceedings brought against a water undertaker or water supply licensee in pursuance of subsection (5), it is a defence for the undertaker or licensee to show that the undertaker or, as the case may be, the licensee took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the breach (7) For the purposes of section 63AC, premises which are outside a water undertaker's area are to be treated as being within that area if they are supplied with water using the undertaker's supply system (8) In subsection (7), the reference to the undertaker's supply system is to be construed in accordance with section 17B 63AE Interim licensees: schemes for terms and conditions (1) A person who is an eligible water supply licensee for the purposes of section 63AC must make, and from time to time revise, a scheme containing the terms and conditions which, in the absence of agreed terms and conditions, are to apply to a 12 supply of water made by the licensee by virtue of a direction given under section 63AC(3) (2) A scheme under this section may make different provision for different purposes, or for different areas (3) As soon as practicable after a water supply licensee makes or revises a scheme under this section the licensee is to— (4) (a) publish the scheme, or revised scheme, on the licensee's website, and (b) send a copy of the scheme, or revised scheme, to the Authority The Authority may give a direction that terms and conditions applying to a supply of water in accordance with a scheme under this section must be modified as specified in the direction (5) A direction under subsection (4) may apply— (a) generally to terms and conditions applying in accordance with a scheme under this section, or (b) (6) to terms and conditions so applying in any particular case It is the duty of a water supply licensee to comply with a direction under subsection (4), and this duty is enforceable under section 18 63AF Interim duty: code (1) The Authority must issue a code in relation to— (a) supplies of water under section 63AC, and (b) its power of direction under section 63AC(3) (power to direct that eligible water supply licensee makes interim supply) (2) The code may, in particular, make provision about— 13 (a) the procedure for electing to be an eligible water supply licensee for the purposes of section 63AC; (b) the procedure for temporarily suspending such an election under section 63AC(5)(b); (c) the circumstances in which the Authority's power of direction under section 63AC(3) or 63AE(4) may or may not be exercised; (d) how the Authority will determine the date on which a water supply licensee ceased to supply premises with water for the purposes of section 63AC; (e) terms and conditions contained in schemes made under section 63AE; (f) eligible water supply licensees informing owners or occupiers of premises of their schemes for terms and conditions made under section 63AE, before agreeing any terms and conditions as mentioned in section 63AC(7)(b)(ii); (g) the giving of notices as mentioned in section 63AC(9) (that a new licensee is to continue the supply of water made by the previous licensee) including, in particular, provision about— (i) the earliest time that a notice may specify as the time from which a new licensee is to continue the supply of water made by a previous licensee; (ii) (3) the procedure for serving a notice If the Authority considers that a water supply licensee is not acting as required by provision contained in the code as mentioned in subsection (2)(e) or (f), the Authority may give the licensee a direction to do, or not to do, a particular thing specified in the direction (4) It is the duty of a water supply licensee to comply with a direction under subsection (3), and this duty is enforceable under section 18 (5) The Authority must from time to time review the code and, if appropriate, issue a revised code 14 (6) References in section 63AC to the code issued under this section are to the code issued under this section that has effect at the time in question.‖ 15 ... and present of plain English emergence, the main purpose of this dissertation is to access to the tendency of using plain English in legal English texts in the future and to predict whether or not... professor of English at the Law Department of the University of Foggia in Italy, gave his viewpoints on plain language in the article ―Changing with the Times: The Evolution of Plain Language in. .. FROM PLAIN LANGUAGE (PLAIN ENGLISH) ORGANIZATIONS: From the idea of the Plain English Campaign60, of course, they give favour to plain language drafting: Realistically, the idea of producing legal