IS THERE A FUTURE FOR SHALL IN LEGAL TEXTS?

Abstract

In this paper I shall examine the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ keeping shall in legal texts, in particular with reference to the question of its supposed vagueness and imprecision. Is there a future for shall because in recent years, some legislative drafters have stopped using it, largely on the grounds that its semantic boundaries are so hazy as to give rise to the risk of misinterpretation and translation. I begin by briefly looking at the question from a historical perspective. After attempting to define the semantic boundaries of shall and examining some of the ‘fuzzy’ areas. I analyse the English translation of the Constitution of Bulgaria in order to find the distribution and meaning of shall.