european-union
From what legal tradition do the long &quot;whereas&quot; motivation clauses of the EU legislation come?
<p>Practically all EU non-treaty legislation and regulations have pretty long "whereas" clauses, often pages long, introducing the context and often the motivation of the legislation/regulations.</p>

<p>From which country's (if any) legal or legislative tradition are these detailed "whereas" clauses inherited?</p>

<p>These clauses are called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recital_(law)" rel="noreferrer">recitals</a>.  Taken together, they are a form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble" rel="noreferrer">preamble</a>.</p>

<p>The tradition of preambles is quite ancient.  The <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ancient/hamframe.asp" rel="noreferrer">Code of Hammurabi</a>, for example, has a preamble.  This preamble serves to establish the authority of the one enacting the laws, however, rather than his motivation.</p>

<p>United Nations instruments typically use a series of participial phrases as <a href="https://www.un.org/ar/ga/pdf/Guidelines%20for%20editing%20of%20draft%20proposals.pdf" rel="noreferrer">preambular paragraphs (pdf)</a> rather than subordinate clauses, but they have the same function of establishing context and motivation.</p>

<p>I have not been able to locate the origin of this particular form of preamble, however.  It seems to have evolved gradually from freely constructed preambles.  I could not identify when this form became fixed.</p>
