Thread: Legal Pleonasms in English

You have to be careful in changing legal terminology in any way. Some of these doublets and triplets have meanings of their own, however subtle. A couple of the examples given are "power and authority"; "for and on behalf of". Power is not exactly the same as authority. One might have the power to do something but not the authority. Neither is "for" exactly the same as "on behalf of". They seem redundant and the differences are definitely subtle and arguable but that is exactly why legal experts use them as doublets in the first place, i.e., in order to avoid the slightest loophole in interpretation.