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So.....is that a wise thing to do? You still didn't answer the question. Regardless of how long it takes. Do you take a risk on a contract without knowing what you're getting into?
I see at least 5 votes in the "NO" column. Are you a yes or no?
I read everything I sign, and yes, even the, I accept, I disagree. The difference is I only read them once.
Not only do I rarely read what I sign, I have contracts and deals written that I send out to investors without reading.
Thats what lawyers are for. I cant think of one contract that I've ever read, and this goes from the partnership agreements, to sales agreements, to loan documents, to land trust deeds..
After all, what would you do if you get to the closing table on a home and find something in a mortgage agreement you dont like? Not close on the home? Its not like the bank will stop and rewrite their contract for you at the closing table..
Yes they will re-write the docs and at their cost if they screwed up. I have done it twice, once with WAMU, once with Chase. Not at the closing table but within 24 hours or they lost the loan.
I read everything before signing it. Yes, even the lengthy terms posted on websites. I don't necessarily read those word-for-word, but well enough to notice if there are any non-standard terms that I won't agree to. For instance, DirecTV is the only bill we still get paper billing for even though we have it set for auto-pay. That's because in their terms they make you agree that they can't be held responsible in any way if they send you a virus that infects your computer if you sign up for e-billing. Uhm, no, won't agree to that. The others don't have that language, so we're paperless with all other bills.
I drove the salesman crazy when we bought our motorcycle because I read that entire contract. Good thing I did, because I found three things that I refused to agree to, all of which they were willing to strike, and did strike before I signed it.
I got the city of Redondo Beach to change their standard release of liability form because it contained language that would have forbidden us from suing civilly if one of their police officers pointed a gun directly at our head and shot us to death (we were taking the "Citizen's Police Academy" course). I wouldn't sign it, gave it to the officer running the class and explained why. He, in turn, passed it along to his superior, who passed it on to the City Attorney who agreed that that language should be stricken, which it was. I was the only one in however many years of the city using that release for every employee, who read it closely enough to understand the implications and refused to sign it unless it was changed.
So, in short, I read everything before doing anything.
Now, I know where you're going with this. I do believe our legislators should read, to as much extent as possible, and understand bills before they vote on them. But I also understand that due to the nature of how bills are written and the unusual length of most of them, that they have staffers whose job it is to read them and bring attention to any concerns their Representative might have. I don't sign the contracts that come through my office, but I read every single one of them before giving them to my boss to sign off on, and I highlight any areas of concern that I find, or things I know he might have questions about or want to question. That's part of what staff is for, and that's what Congress does. We'd never get a single, solitary piece of legislation passed if it was any other way.
you are talking about the people who allegedly write the legislation! there is no law mandating that they have to make each bill 1,000 pages or better, but they are all trying to get their swag thrown in.
congress absolutely needs to be accountable for what they write, even if they personally have to read every single page! put off the vote until they have read it and understand it. (or have it explained to them when they are done, for a lot of them......)
First to answer the question; No, Iwould not sign contract without reading it.
Secondly I assume we are talking about the health care reform bill and the answer is one that should be obvious to anyone paying attention. Some Senators claim they have not read the bill and for others to say they should sign it without knowing what is in it is wrong. This brings one question to mind; If, as they claim, they have not read it or know what is in it, how on earth are they complaining about what is in it? Chew on that thought for a minute and come to your own conculsions.
One final though, some also claim this is being voted on in the middle of the night without warning. The truth is that it is a Republican that wants the vote at the time and again unless the Senators doing the complaining were actually doing their job they would be prepared to vote yes or no today since the details have been common knowledge to even the public. The reality is that they are playing politics as usual, and for political reasons they never would vote for any bill coming from the House controlled by Democrats, no matter how many things the Demos cut from the bill to appease the Repubs, which they did.
Casper
Because it has to be legally unambiguous and fit into existing law? I could have sworn I typed that.
You can't just make a one-liner law saying, say, "Medicare now extends to people over 55." You have to link it into what you mean by "Medicare" (which is another huge complex of laws), and you have to make a clear definition of "people" in this legal context. And then you have to consider what existing laws are being superseded by this new law, or you'd have contradictions.
It's like technical standards. The Internet is run according to a collection of standard documents called "RFCs", and they're mostly incomprehensible unless you've spent years of your life understanding what makes computer networks tick. And for all the painstaking work put into making them impossible to misinterpret, there are still arguments over how to implement them.
A society is in no way easier to run. It is, sorry, naive to think that law is hard to understand for no good purpose.
In one word NO Never, you may be signing your life away! So be it, however long it shall take me, I read contracts, LOT OF SNEAKY THINGS IN THOSE PESKY CONTRACTS.
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