Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/93

WORDS PREFERRED IN LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Words should always be preferred for numbers as well as for dates in legal documents, as in

This indenture, made the twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven.

Words should also be used in all legal papers for the statement of moneys paid, as well as for the measurements of land and the expression of values, for figures are specially liable to error, alteration, and misconstruction. For this reason statements of numbers plainly intended to have special distinction should be in words, even when they appear as arabic figures in ordinary writings. Even in compact writing the use of spelled-out words instead of figures is sometimes obligatory.

FIGURES SHOULD NOT BEGIN A SENTENCE

When the sentence begins with a numerical statement, words must be used for the numbers, even if figures are used in other parts of that sentence.

Eighteen thousand men enlisted in New York State during the year: 8000 are credited to Manhattan, 4000 to Brooklyn, 2000 to Troy, 1000 to Albany, and 3000 elsewhere.

A statement like this is permissible in a newspaper or pamphlet, but in a history or in any book in-