Embedding legal text complexity

Abstract This study examines the linguistic complexity that characterises Italian administrative texts. In particular, it focuses on the Risposte (responses) issued by the Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency). Adopting a distant reading approach and decomposing linguistic complexity into a range of measures across different levels of linguistic analysis, the study conducts a quantitative examination of a large corpus of Risposte . The analysis shows that texts produced by the administration are more complex than other types of texts, specifically a control corpus of Wikipedia entries for tax law, and that, within these administrative documents, the most relevant section is also the most linguistically complex. The findings highlight risks to accessibility and advocate for clearer institutional communication to promote linguistic equity and textual accessibility. The linguistic complexity of administrative and regulatory texts can, in fact, hinder citizens’ access to justice and their ability to comply with the binding requirements imposed by the administration.