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"all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or

English translation: all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

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English term or phrase:	"all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or
English translation:	all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification
Entered by:	Yasutomo Kanazawa

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14:48 Sep 1, 2009

English to English translations [PRO]
Insurance / Insurance

English term or phrase: "all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or

Am I missing something, or is this phrase lacking proper punctuation? As part of an All Risk Construction Policy (CAR) I bumped into this beauty: "all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or specification". I think it should read "defects of material, workmanship, design, plan or specification" but need some reassurance that I am actually interpreting it correctly.

ajperez50

all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

Explanation:
You are correct. There are commas missing after material, workmanship, and design like you pointed out. These commas serve to make clear that every term from material to specification is an independent term, where even one of those every terms mentioned apply to "all costs rendered necessary".

Selected response from:

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Local time: 10:13

Grading comment

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4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +5

all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

Yasutomo Kanazawa

4 +1

it's old-fashioned legalese

Armorel Young

Answers

18 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Local time: 10:13
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Yasutomo. I thought so but, as I said before, I needed the reassurance.

53 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

it's old-fashioned legalese

Explanation:
Traditionally, legal documents in English have been written without punctuation other than full stops at the end of sentences. I think you have an example of this traditional style here - it isn't "wrong", but it is old-fashioned.

"As noted above, legal English differs from standard English in a number of ways. The most important of these differences are as follows:
.....
Lack of punctuation. One of the most unusual aspects of old-fashioned legal drafting – particularly in conveyances and deeds – is the almost complete lack of punctuation. This arose from a widespread belief among lawyers and judges that punctuation was unimportant and potentially confusing, and that the meaning of legal documents should be gathered solely from the words used and the context in which they were used. In modern legal drafting, punctuation is (or should be) used for the same reason as it is used in ordinary writing – to give clarification about meaning."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_English

Punctuation

Punctuation was traditionally omitted in legal documents. Many trust drafters still use no punctuation. If it is used, a sense of guilt or unease or tradition causes drafters (like children) to use it sparingly and in a manner quite distinct from ordinary English composition.

The traditional practice rests on a precedent both ancient and authoritative. The Bible itself, in the original Hebrew, lacks punctuation and even paragraph breaks are rare; though the absence of punctuation adds little ease to its reading or interpretation.
http://www.kessler.co.uk/dtwt/Chap.02Style.html

Armorel Young
Local time: 02:13
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Armorel. It's good to know how British Lawyers draft their documents. I guess we Americans are sticklers for proper punctuation!

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Changes made by editors

Sep 15, 2009 - Changes made by Yasutomo Kanazawa:
Created KOG entry	KudoZ term => KOG term

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"all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or

English translation: all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

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"all costs rendered necessary by defects of material workmanship design plan or

English translation: all costs rendered necessary by defects of material, workmanship, design, plan, or specification

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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