A new study from cognitive scientists offers an answer to why legal documents such as contracts or deeds are often so impenetrable.

After analyzing thousands of legal contracts and comparing them to other types of texts, the researchers found that lawyers have a habit of frequently inserting long definitions in the middle of sentences. Linguists have previously demonstrated that this type of structure, known as «center-embedding,» makes text much more difficult to understand.

While center-embedding had the most significant effect on comprehension difficulty, the MIT study found that the use of unnecessary jargon also contributes.

«It’s not a secret that legal language is very hard to understand. It’s borderline incomprehensible a lot of the time,» says Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences and the senior author of the new paper. «In this study, we’re documenting in detail what the problem is.»

The researchers hope that their findings will lead to greater awareness of this issue and stimulate efforts to make legal documents more accessible to the general public.

«Making legal language more straightforward would help people understand their rights and obligations better, and therefore be less susceptible to being unnecessarily punished or not being able to benefit from their entitled rights,» says Eric Martinez, a recent law school graduate and licensed attorney who is now a graduate student in brain and cognitive sciences at MIT.

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Materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Original written by Anne Trafton. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.