Final answer:
A promise alone lacks legal significance, but a valid contract carries substantial legal weight for its clarity and binding nature. Legal English must be precise to avoid ambiguity and meet formal requirements. Contracts and constitutions exemplify how structured, formal documents can establish enforceable legal principles and agreements.
Step-by-step explanation:
A promise by itself is legally insignificant, but a valid contract is of great legal consequence. The use of precise language is crucial in the legal profession as legal English strives for consistency, completeness, validity, and formality, while seeking to eliminate ambiguity. This precision is essential for legal documents like contracts that require clear terms to avoid open-ended interpretations that could lead to disputes.
In the context of law, a sentence or phrase on its own may not carry legal weight unless it is part of a structured legal agreement or document that has been formally recognized. Similarly, constitutions, which may differ significantly in length and detail, provide the foundational legal principles of a country or an organization. These principles establish the government structure, its duties, and the rights of citizens. While constitutions are typically comprehensive and detailed to ensure clarity and legal force, a simple promise without accompanying legal formalities is not sufficient to create binding obligations.