I read a number of contracts and legal documents and at times get very confused; I have also come across contract clauses that were themselves either contradictory to one another, impractical or even "illegal". Many times it starts with a document that has been reviewed by a lawyer, and as time goes by, clauses are added without a full review. After a certain time it no longer makes any sense.
Most contracts are geared to protect the one that hands it over for signature (be it a company, a rental place etc.) and very often they have added some clause because of "that one time when". One of the first thing I do if practical is look for clause reciprocity, i.e. if a clause is there to protect the other party, a similar clause should be there to protect me.
The softwares or consumer products on the other hand are in wide distribution, so really if you want the product you don't much choice but to accept the document as is - and except for software downloads, you actually don't even get to accept anything, you are merely being informed, and often after the purchase if you read the document inside the package or envelop you receive later. A good example is banking, they are gracious enough to let you know (if you read) that they unilaterally decide to change their terms and conditions.
Some have become so convoluted that I doubt anybody reads them and understands them fully. So then, what are they good for? I just dealt with my insurance, and they actually don't even refer to that document themselves, they have their interpretation of what it means in real life. Fortunately, there are regulations and consumer boards. And with internet now, consumer reviews are becoming a good tool in one's arsenal.
One of the things I watched for is privacy of data. But even for that, it has become impossible to not share your private information with the whole world, and you really don't know what is being done with it, all you know is typically something like "they will only share it for the purpose of doing business"... well, that can cover quite a lot of ground... and that is, as far as they know that is what they do, but many companies unfortunately don't have the necessary tools to protect that information, so they don't even know. OK, I'll stop here, I realize that also is another debate...
An example of "illegal" document is those that they get you to sign (limiting their liability) when you do a so-called "dangerous activity" - most of the time they don't mean anything as the law would apply anyhow, not that document.
It doesn't hurt to know a few things. What would be great is if there were some help to learn about these things, such as "law 101", for everyday situations and documents.
I would prefer legal documents to be simpler, or have a summary indeed. Most have at least headers for the paragraphs, which have no legal meaning and are there to help. More things like that would be nice. For specific situations, there are websites with great information.
I have a question for the lawyers in the community (or anyone who knows): it is my understanding that some countries pass judgment mainly based on precedence, whereas others base them on the rules written in the law book, or a mix of both; i.e. it is my understanding that precedence is important in some countries more than others, any comment?