Many companies now do little more than provide legal boilerplate to justify the pay packages.

Rather, expressions such as "thirty-two grains of wheat, taken from the middle of the ear" appear to have been ritualistic formulas, essentially the premodern equivalent of legal boilerplate.

Foornote 2: In doing "research" for this post, I came across the best legal boilerplate ever: "We love your dedication, we love your passion .

Even allowing for legal boilerplate, it was daunting.

During preparation, he'd imparted to Toby the standard legal boilerplate: "Answer honestly and listen carefully; but only respond to the precise questions he asks.

"Much of what you find in a prospectus is legal boilerplate," he added, "and it is really not applicable to many buyers."

All it takes to win a settlement from a private company is a little research - to identify even a trace amount of a toxin in, say, office supplies or a parking lot - and some threatening legal boilerplate.

But he said the regulatory agency could help by making sure shareholders can see clearly without having the information "buried in dozens of pages of tightly packed legal boilerplate."

Asked why the husband was awarded custody, Justice Sweeny would say only that he found it would be "in the best interests of the children," the standard legal boilerplate in such issues.

All of the documents are standard legal boilerplate; some lawyers charge hundreds of dollars and then have members of their paralegal staff churn them out.