Shall and must

Use “must” not “shall” to impose requirements. “Shall” is ambiguous, and rarely occurs in everyday conversation. The legal community is moving to a strong preference for “must” as the clearest way to express a requirement or obligation.

1. “Shall” has three strikes against it.

First, lawyers regularly misuse it to mean something other than “has a duty to.” It has become so corrupted by misuse that it has no firm meaning.

Second—and related to the first—it breeds litigation. There are 76 pages in “Words and Phrases” (a legal reference) that summarize hundreds of cases interpreting “shall.”

Third, nobody uses “shall” in common speech. It’s one more example of unnecessary lawyer talk. Nobody says, “You shall finish the project in a week.”

For all these reasons, “must” is a better choice, and the change has already started to take place. The new Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, for instance, use “must,” not “shall.”

Prof. Joe Kimble, Thomas Cooley Law School

2. “Must” is now being extensively used

in the legislation of… Australia and at least three Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba) that have amended their Interpretation Acts to say that “must” is to be interpreted as imperative.”

Recommendation

“Must” may be used to create requirements and prohibitions. However, prohibitions should be drafted in the form of “X must not”, rather than “no X must”.

Drafters should not use “must” and “shall” together in the same Act or regulation. It could raise questions about whether different meanings are intended.”

Justice Canada’s Legislative Services Branch

3. Delete every shall.

“Shall” isn’t plain English. . . But legal drafters use “shall” incessantly. They learn it by osmosis in law school, and the lesson is fortified in law practice.

Ask a drafter what “shall” means, and you’ll hear that it’s a mandatory word—opposed to the permissive “may”. Although this isn’t a lie, it’s a gross inaccuracy. . . Often, it’s true, “shall” is mandatory. . . Yet the word frequently bears other meanings—sometimes even masquerading as a synonym of “may”. . . In just about every jurisdiction, courts have held that “shall” can mean not just “must” and “may”, but also “will” and “is”. Increasingly, official drafting bodies are recognizing the problem. . .Many . . drafters have adopted the “shall-less” style. . . You should do the same.

Bryan Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English, 2001, pp 105-06.

For a good discussion of “shall” and “must”, see Bryan Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2d ed. 1995), pages 939-942.

Bốn động từ khuyết thiếu này thường được dùng cho các trường hợp đề nghị làm gì nên dễ gây nhầm lẫn với người dùng.

Will

– Nói về một sự việc trong tương lai mà bạn tin là sắp xảy ra hoặc chắn chắn xảy ra. Ví dụ: Clare will be five years old next month (Clare sẽ tròn 5 tuổi vào tháng tới).

– Nói với người khác về việc bạn muốn làm hoặc quyết tâm làm. Ví dụ: I’ll give you a lift (Tôi sẽ chở bạn).

– Hỏi đề nghị ai làm điều gì. Ví dụ: Will you give me her address? (Cậu cho tớ địa chỉ cô ấy chứ?).

Would

– Nói về tương lai từ điểm nhìn của quá khứ. Ví dụ: He said he would see his brother tomorrow (Cậu ấy nói là sẽ gặp anh trai của mình vào ngày mai).

– Mời ai một cách lịch sự. Ví dụ: Would you like me to come with you? (Cậu có muốn tớ đi cùng không?)

– Nói về giả định – điều người nói tưởng tượng. Ví dụ: I would hate to miss the show. (Tôi ghét việc sẽ phải lỡ chương trình ấy lắm).

Shall

Trước đây, “shall” được dùng thay thế cho”will” khi chủ ngữ là “I”, “we” nhưng cách dùng này không còn phổ biến. “Shall” được dùng cho các trường hợp bạn muốn:

– Đề xuất làm gì với ngôi “I”, “we”. Ví dụ: “I’m cold.” “Shall I close this window?” (Lạnh quá. Tôi đóng cửa sổ nhé?)

– Giao nhiệm vụ cho người khác một cách trang trọng. Ví dụ: You shall obey the rules. (Anh sẽ phải tuân theo các quy tắc).

Should

– Hỏi ý kiến. Ví dụ: What should we do now? (Chúng ta nên làm gì bây giờ?)

– Nhấn mạnh ai đó nên làm gì. Ví dụ: He should be more open to ideas. (Anh ta nên cởi mở hơn với các ý kiến).

Y Vân