Why are contracts written so poorly?
dctoedt: It takes some work, but contracts can be expressed in short, clear sentences and paragraphs.  A leading proponent of this style is Ken Adams (see http://www.adamsdrafting.com),In the interest of promoting "code reuse" by contract drafters, I've been building a community form file of contract forms and clauses - see http://www.firstdrafter.com (in progress).