Editing All caps (section)

===Contract law===

An antiquated practice that still remains in use, especially by older American lawyers who grew up before the arrival of computers, is to use all caps text for text that is legally required to be emphasised and clearly readable.<ref name="Why is your Contract YELLING AT YOU? All Caps in Contracts, Explained.">{{cite web|title=Why is your Contract YELLING AT YOU? All Caps in Contracts, Explained.|url=http://www.shakelaw.com/blog/why-is-your-contract-yelling-at-you-all-caps-in-contracts-explained/|publisher=Shake Law|access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref> The practice dates to the period of typewriters, which generally did not offer bold text, small capitals, or the opportunity to add marginal notes emphasising key points.

Legal writing expert [[Bryan A. Garner]] has described the practice as "ghastly".<ref name="Legal writing in plain English : a text with exercises">{{cite book|last1=Garner|first1=Bryan A.|title=Legal writing in plain English: a text with exercises|date=2013|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226283937|edition=Second|url=http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/garner/documents/section44.html|access-date=2 August 2015}}</ref> A 2020 study found that all-caps in legal texts is ineffective and is, in fact, harmful to older readers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Arbel|first1=Yonathan A.|last2=Toler|first2=Andrew|date=2020|title=All-Caps|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jels.12272|journal=Journal of Empirical Legal Studies|language=en|volume=17|issue=4|pages=862–896|doi=10.1111/jels.12272|s2cid=240784123|issn=1740-1461|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 2002, a US court spoke out against the practice, ruling that simply making text all-capitals has no bearing on whether it is clear and easily readable:

{{blockquote|Lawyers who think their caps lock keys are instant "make conspicuous" buttons are deluded. In determining whether a term is conspicuous, we look at more than formatting. A term that appears in capitals can still be inconspicuous if it is hidden on the back of a contract in small type. Terms that are in capitals but also appear in hard-to-read type may flunk the conspicuousness test. A sentence in capitals, buried deep within a long paragraph in capitals will probably not be deemed conspicuous...it is entirely possible for text to be conspicuous without being in capitals.<ref name="In Re: Darlene M. Bassett">{{cite book|last1=Kozinsky|first1=Alex|title=In Re: Darlene M. Bassett|date=2002|publisher=United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.|location=San Francisco|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1303216.html}}</ref>}}