[RP TownTalk] An education

[Lou King]

In contractual writing the word "shall" is used when there is no option 
as in:

§ 202: Qualifications of Council Member
A council member shall be at least 25 years of age and a citizen of the 
United States.

By mentally substituting "may" for "shall" in the above article and 
thinking about the possibility of a 5 year old council member, the 
distinction _may_ be clear.

By contrast making a mental substitution of "shall" for "may" in the 
following article put an entirely different slant on our right to vote 
on this election day.

§ 503: Registration
Any resident of the town may register to vote at the Board of Election 
Supervisors for Prince George's County by mail or whenever the office is 
open for business.

Although America's voting record is less than stellar, forced 
registration is most likely not the answer - but that is off topic.

Lou
O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop HTML mail - www.asciiribbon.org

Don Lynch wrote, On 11/1/2010 10:05 PM:
> I quote our town charter:
>
>
> Our mayor took the word "may" to mean he doesn't have to do anything
> with regard to the upkeep of one of our very important assets.
>
>
> Don