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Why do legal documents use Shall rather than Will?

Logo for Quora, where Dana Shultz answered a question about using Shall rather than WillThis post, about why many legal documents use Shall rather than Will, is based on a Quora answer that I wrote. See Why was “should” substituted for “would” in the 1800s? For example, why did people say, “I should like to have some pie” rather than “I would like to have some pie”?

Future Tense – Shall vs. Will

Although few people other than linguists are aware of the following, proper use of shall or will in the future tense depends on whether the subject is the first, second or third person. For example: (more…)