Abstract: The study contributes to the development of the issue regarding the specificity of language use in law. A large number of poor-quality instruments in Russia require understanding the reasons of this situation, since the effective law enforcement depends substantially on how competently, understandably and objectively a legislative text has been formulated. On the basis of the linguistic analysis of Russian legislation, the researchers identify two groups of the most typical defects. The first group includes cases of inexact or inaccurate use of the legal terms, the second one includes intentional use of terms without explaining their significance in order to interpret misleadingly which leads to the manipulation.