Language & Style

“Improving one’s style — that means improving one’s thoughts, and nothing more!” Nietzsche knew this already. Lawyers, in particular, should take this insight to heart; after all, language is both the subject and the means of our endeavours. Writing clearly is by no means rocket science! We’ve already made great strides simply by avoiding a few ‘stylistic sins’. The following articles show how this can be done.

Different authors have different styles. We discuss some of the suggestions here in the editorial team, both with the authors and amongst ourselves. Grammar and punctuation are rarely a source of debate, whereas style is often the subject of intense discussion. That is why we welcome contributions from a variety of writers, which can demonstrate a broad stylistic range to you. Ultimately, responsibility for the text in question naturally remains with the author.

The ‘Language and Style Learning Opportunity’ has been published at irregular intervals since the summer semester of 2016 on the website of the Institute for Constitutional, Administration and Commercial and Business Law (ISVWR) at the University of Osnabrück (www.uni-osnabrueck.de/fb10/department/institutes/institute-for-constitutional-administrative-and-commercial-law/language-and-style/language-and-style) (external link, opens in a new window) and, since the 2023/24 winter semester, also on the website of the Chair of Public Law, Commercial and Business Law and Administrative Sciences at the University of Regensburg. On this website you will find the full text of all articles.

The editors, Pascale Cancik and Bernd J. Hartmann, would be delighted to receive any interesting finds. Please write to ls-cancik​(at)​uni-osnabrueck.deoder (opens your email program)or Lehrstuhl.Hartmann​(at)​jura.uni-regensburg.de (opens your email program).