Law & Linguistics assignment

Negligence is the failure of a responsible person, either by omission or by action, to exercise that degree of care, diligence, and forethought which, in the discharge of the duty then resting on him or her, the person of ordinary caution and prudence ought to exercise under the particular circumstances. It is a want of diligence commensurate with the requirement of the duty at the moment imposed by the law...

a. Identify five (5) distinct linguistic features in this definition that are likely to pose problems for comprehension to average jurors, and explain why they are problematic.

b. Rewrite the definition in a more comprehensible form, preserving its meaning to the extent possible.

c. Which two (2) of the factors that you identified in (a) do you feel are the most significant? (That is, which factors are most responsible for causing incomprehensibility?) Why?