Editing Shall and will (section)

=== US legal system ===
[[Bryan Garner]] and [[Justice Scalia]] in ''Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts'' describe that some legal drafting has sloppy use of the word "shall".<ref name=ReadingLaw>{{cite book |last1= Scalia |first1= Antonin |last2=Garner |first2=Bryan A. |date=2012 |chapter=11. Mandatory/Permissive Canon|title= Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts |edition=Kindle |location= St. Paul, MN |publisher=Thomson West|isbn=978-0-314-27555-4}}</ref>{{rp|1808}} Nevertheless, Garner and Scalia conclude that when the word "shall" can reasonably be understood as mandatory, it ought to be taken that way.<ref name=ReadingLaw />{{rp|1849}} In 2007, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] said ("The word 'shall' generally indicates a command that admits of no discretion on the part of the person instructed to carry out the directive"); Black's Law Dictionary 1375 (6th ed. 1990) ("As used in statutes ... this word is generally imperative or mandatory").<ref>{{cite court |litigants=National Ass'n v. Defenders of Wildlife |vol=127 |reporter=S. Ct. |opinion=2518 |pinpoint=2531-2532 |court=US |date=2007 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11087226932629516688 |access-date=December 7, 2018 |)}}.</ref>

{{Anchor|Legal use|Technical specifications}}Legislative acts and contracts sometimes use "shall" and "shall not" to express mandatory action and prohibition.  However, it is sometimes used to mean "may" or "can". The most famous example of both of these uses of the word "shall" is the {{sourcetext|source=United States Constitution}}. Claims that "shall" is used to denote a fact, or is not used with the above different meanings, have caused discussions and have significant consequences for interpreting the text's intended meaning.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tillman |first1=Nora Rotter |last2=Tillman |first2=Seth Barrett |title=A Fragment on ''Shall'' and ''May'' |journal=American Journal of Legal History |date=2010 |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=453–458 |doi=10.1093/ajlh/50.4.453|ssrn=1029001|doi-access=free }}</ref> Lawsuits over the word's meaning are also common.<ref name=":0" />