What's the metric for establishing what is the "correct" number of spaces? I submit that it's functional, not aesthetic: the speed at which users — i.e., readers — grasp the information being presented. Whether typographers regard a single space as prettier is less important.
I would suggest rather then some arcane spacing convention, the simplicity and clarity of the wording is objectively far more important then any style guide. I would also suggest that this is something the legal profession is generally very bad at with the amount of legal jargon found in most documents produced in the profession.
One (small) study said that two spaces increases reading speed by about 3% [0] [1] [2]; I couldn't find any indication whether scanning and skimming speeds were studied.
From an article: "When the double-space was present, their eyes fixated less on the break between sentences and they moved to the next one more quickly. Ultimately, it seemed it was a bit easier for their brains to make sense of when sentences were more clearly broken up." [3]
> the simplicity and clarity of the wording is objectively far more important [than] any style guide. ... this is something the legal profession is generally very bad at with the amount of legal jargon found in most documents produced in the profession.
Agreed! I teach advanced contract drafting to third-year law students; I stress two principal rules: (A) Short, Single-Subject Paragraphs — don't be a L.O.A.D. [Lazy Or Arrogant Drafter] [4], and (B) BLUF - Bottom Line Up Front [5]. Following those two rules will produce the biggest bang for the buck in terms of improved readability.
[0] https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758/s13414-018-1527-6?sha...
[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/two-spac...
[2] https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-05-space-period-sentence...
[3] https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/scientists-two-spaces-...
[4] https://toedtclassnotes.site44.com/Notes-on-Contract-Draftin...
[5] https://toedtclassnotes.site44.com/Notes-on-Contract-Draftin...
It is interesting when you look at the reading results, in particular the only significant difference in reading speed was for people that typed using 2 spaces at the end of a sentence, when they also were reading a document formatted that way. (I note that the other 3 articles cite back to the same source study)
This would appear to show that considering most people outside the legal profession do not follow that convention, that there is no real benefit, particularly when even this improvement was not considered statistically significant in the study.
I did a quick skim of the course notes, and I can defiantly agree with the principals your teaching. I hope your students appreciate just how important those points are in all there written communication.
Chicago requires 1 space.
Also, the Bluebook is at most followed only in spirit, more commonly in the breach. Most of it is specifically for "scholarly" articles, not practitioners' documents. Smallcaps is an important part of following Bluebook for scholarship! There is a slim section on how to translate requirements to briefs, but it is underspecified so lawyers just kind of muddle along. All while insisting they follow it to the letter. They don't.