Avoiding the naughty step for bad clauses

As mentioned in a previous blog post, terms and conditions (‘T&Cs’ or ‘Ts&Cs’) get a bad press.

They are usually dull. They are typically boring. They rarely get read.

To be frank, is it any wonder when many contain clauses dripping with impenetrable legal treacle such as this:

(NB please do not try to actually read these clauses courtesy of the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) naughty step for bad clauses — otherwise known as 'OFT311')

The clauses of these Conditions and each sub-clause thereof are several and if any part of any clause or sub-clause shall be void, invalid or unenforceable then the remainder of such clauses or subclauses shall nevertheless be valid and enforceable

Or this:

The Carrier shall have a general lien on any Consignment for its charges for the carriage or storage of that or any other Consignment for the Customer or for any other monies due from the Customer to the Carrier

So why does this all matter? After all, legalese seems to be in very rude health. Surely no statins, fitness plans or bucket loads of fiddly, colourful tablets for it?

As it happens, this is still pretty much the case for business to business (B2B) contracts, but for business to consumer contracts (B2C), legalese is not looking quite so hot. It looks a tad peaky, if truth be told: not quite in intensive care, but getting there.

This