Multiplicity and indistinctness produce confusion; and questions, the more simple they are, the more lucid.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) Legal pleadings, instruments, and questions should be framed with simplicity and precision — complexity and vagueness obscure truth and defeat justice.

Where this applies

• A complaint is so convoluted with overlapping claims and vague allegations that the judge orders it simplified because multiplicity and confusion defeat justice.
• An attorney asks a witness a compound question containing five separate propositions, and the judge sustains an objection because simpler questions yield clearer answers.
• A contract contains so many cross-references and nested definitions that neither party can determine their obligations, and the court orders the parties to produce a plain-language summary because complexity obscures the truth.