Legal texts as barriers – characteristics of law texts and the question of comprehensibility

The language of the law uses many different text types: treaties, parliamentary protocols, verdicts, decisions, indictments, closing arguments, summons, oaths, testimonies, constitutional complaints, enforcement orders, reports, certificates, records (in land registers, registers etc.), legal opinions, commentaries on rulings, objections, laws, commentaries, orders, last wills, and many more (see e.g. Hoffmann 1997 and Busse 2000).