TSCC license

[Michael J. Lew]

At 11:39 PM -0500 8/3/04, Chipp wrote:
>Just wondering, other than the length, big words and legalese, what
>specifically was objectionable in the license agreement?

I didn't read far enough to get to anything more objectionable than 
the language itself!

I was set up for a laugh by the heading of the non-capitalised text, 
"WITNESSETH". It's not in either of my dictionaries, and 
www.dictionary.com has no entries. Good fun, but it leads to some 
interesting questions. If a legal document contains a made-up word 
without definition can it have a legal meaning? If an agreement 
contains words so archaic that the reader can't reasonably be 
expected to be sure of their meaning is the agreement valid? If an 
agreement is written in English is it binding on a person who agrees 
by clicking even if they can't read English?

Anyway, back to work...

-- 
Michael J. Lew

Senior Lecturer
Department of Pharmacology
The University of Melbourne
Parkville 3010
Victoria
Australia

Phone +613 8344 8304

**
New email address: michaell at unimelb.edu.au
**