All caps in contracts
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: Text in All Caps. "All caps" may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in legal documents, the titles on book covers, in advertisements and in newspaper headlines. A hallmark of consumer contracts is long blocks of capitalized text. Courts and legislators believe that such “all-caps” clauses improve the quality of consumer consent and thus they will often require the capitalization of certain key terms in consumer contracts. A hallmark of consumer contracts is long blocks of capitalized text. Courts and legislators believe that such “all-caps” clauses improve the quality of consumer consent and thus they will often require the capitalization of certain key terms in consumer contracts. Overdoing ALL-CAPS in a contract can be self-defeating, says court. Contract drafters sometimes put entire paragraphs into all-capital letters in the hope of making them “conspicuous”; you’ve probably seen examples of this particular disorder in warranty disclaimers and limitations of liability. So here is a quick post on the lovely subject of ALL CAPS. A copy of the MPL with yellow text instead of ALL CAPS. The basic question: Why do lawyers use so much ALL CAPS and what can a normal human being do about it? Some laws require that text in a form or contract be “conspicuous” – i.e., that they be made harder to miss.
There are many ways to make text conspicuous, so bold or larger type would do, but all-caps is pretty bullet-proof from a technological perspective. Thanks to ohwilleke for salient citations: invalidation of a plain-type buried indemnification clause, all-caps clause held to be sufficient, law review article on the conspicuousness requirement.
I particularly liked Andrew’s practice of using Word’s “change case” function to change all capitals when he’s reading a contract on screen. If you’re using all caps for anything other than article headings and party names in the introductory clause and signature blocks, you might want to reconsider. I use instead bold italics. Consequently, all-caps is “used to show meaningful consent to especially onerous terms that would not be enforced but-for the use of all-caps.” (P. 10.) They review the background surrounding this faith in all-caps and find that, despite its pervasiveness, it is based upon “speculation and intuition.” (P. 6.) Sometimes when a word or phrase is put in all-caps in a legal document it's because there's a particular definition for that word or phrase that is set forth toward the beginning of the document. In that situation, I don't think switching the caps would change the meaning of the document (I mean, I think the definitions at the beginning would still apply).
Sometimes when a word or phrase is put in all-caps in a legal document it's because there's a particular definition for that word or phrase that is set forth toward the beginning of the document. In that situation, I don't think switching the caps would change the meaning of the document (I mean, I think the definitions at the beginning would still apply).
Jul 1, 2019 ICANN would like to standardize all of its contracts, and that means modifying the .org contract to more closely match those for domain names like The last notice in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts regarding the salary the following reflects the time frames associated with the existing salary caps: FY cap(s) issued in FY 2002 will reflect adjustments to the current and all future The U.C.C. has now been adopted by every state except Louisiana, and its warranties in bold red capitals when the rest of the contract is in regular black type. Jul 25, 2014 What's happening is that as customers find more entertainment value in broadband — either because they are spending all night on Reddit or Subtitles. There is no need to capitalise every main word. Abbreviations. We often use capital letters in abbreviations such as BBC, TV, USA Mar 1, 2019 Indemnities are an essential part of any contract lawyer's toolkit, and are often being claimed, are all dependent on how the indemnity is drafted. Are indemnities subject to contractual limitations of liability (including caps)?.
Jul 1, 2019 ICANN would like to standardize all of its contracts, and that means modifying the .org contract to more closely match those for domain names like
Subtitles. There is no need to capitalise every main word. Abbreviations. We often use capital letters in abbreviations such as BBC, TV, USA Mar 1, 2019 Indemnities are an essential part of any contract lawyer's toolkit, and are often being claimed, are all dependent on how the indemnity is drafted. Are indemnities subject to contractual limitations of liability (including caps)?. Feb 16, 2017 Purchase agreements often include a negotiated indemnification cap studies show that over half of all reported deals have caps of 10% or Sep 6, 2018 All 32 teams are required to spend at least 89 percent of their caps Players' contracts can be just as complicated since there are several ways Sep 16, 2016 What can you do to make you contracts “The parties hereby agree to waive all claims for any consequential Large font, bold, CAPS.
Generally, the use of all caps in a legal document signifies one of two things. First, all caps are often used to identify defined terms. The capital letters are a signal that the reader should look for and apply the definition of the word that is spelled out in the document itself and not the ordinary or common meaning of the word.
Aug 4, 2017 To expand on another answer, using all caps has become a standard way for parties to draw attention to contract provisions in which one or both parties waive