Month: June 2025

Don’t be elegant; be exact

My colleagues know my feelings about using the passive voice to describe the parties’ obligations in a contract. It’s fine, in elegant literature or in a revolutionary tract, to describe what is to be done. A contract should state who is promising to do something. A lease that states only that “Rent will be paid on the first day of the month and is delinquent if not received by the 10th day of the month” hasn’t imposed an obligation on the tenant to pay rent to the landlord.
Don’t be elegant; be exact.