October 29th, 2014
Betting’s letter about Measure 1’s grammar (Grand Forks Herald, Oct. 23) is so totally off, in more ways than one.
Though I too dislike the “passive voice,” that rule of style doesn’t apply to “legalese.”
Measure 1 is well-written precisely because of its passive voice -- that’s part of what keeps it from being “self-executing.”
According to the ND Supreme Court, “[A] constitutional provision is non-self-executing wherein it merely establishes general objectives,…