Up? Down? Who Cares?
Consider the following paragraph from this article published by Thelen LLP (the firm’s new name):
The origin of U.S. copyright law is found in the United States Constitution. Article One, Section 8, clause 8, which delegates to Congress the power to “promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Congress has passed and amended a number of copyright laws effectuating this Constitutional mandate, with the modern iteration being embodied primarily in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §101 et seq., and its subsequent amendments.
Consider the reference to one clause in the U.S. Constitution — Article One, Section 8, clause 8.
Notice that Section is set up, while clause is set down. One is set up and 8 is set as a numeral. If you think that’s the right way to set things, see if you can find an authority that agrees with you.
The second line isn’t a sentence; it’s a fragment.
Take a look at the third sentence. Constitutional is set up, rather than down. If you think constitutional is a proper adjective, see if you can find an authority that agrees with you.
Big deals? Of course not. But they suggest that the firm doesn’t review its own work — that it doesn’t pay attention to detail.
For a law firm, that can’t be good.
27 August 2008 at 11:48
Further, my SOED defines the verb “effectuate” to mean “To bring to pass; to carry into effect, accomplish.” The current wording implies that statutes like the Copyright have created a constitutional mandate. Isn’t that backwards?
I’m not an American lawyer, but my guess is that Congress didn’t bring this mandate into effect; I assume that it was your consitution that created the mandate. Certain statutes (such as the Copyright Act) have been passed consistent with that mandate.
My guess is that the author was thinking of a term like “embodying this mandate.”