The concept of readability has been in vogue since the plain language law movement emerged. It is sometimes confused with that of the intelligibility of a text. Some people think these terms are synonyms. Society, taking the path of least resistance and in quest of simplification, naturally tends towards greater ease in the acts of everyday life. Reading and writing follow this trend: the forms they take are changing rapidly under the influence of new technologies. There is, however, a big difference between the playful reading of a novel or newspaper and that of legal texts such as law, judgment or contract, which are specialized, technical texts calling for readers endowed with specific knowledge, cultural presuppositions and a fine understanding to better grasp the shades of meaning carried by the text. The readability and intelligibility of these texts pose specific problems related to law and language which jurilinguists have dealt with. The present analysis has been limited to statutes, the “showcase of law” reflecting a society, its legal culture and its particular way of expression.