Although to a lay person legal texts are notoriously difficult to read, some semblance ofordermay befound, especially in the thematic structure ofsuch texts. Thematic structure here coincides with what has been called in the literature'thematic progression'or'theme dynamics\and refers to the cohesive link sei up by the themes—the initial element or elements—of the component sentences of a text. The predominant type of thematic progression in legal texts involves the hypertheme of the particular text, which is derived from two sources: the sei of expectations produced by the specific genre of text, and the title ofthe text, if there is one. This model is applied to flve British legal texts, each of which represents one particular genre: a will, a deed, a contract, a court order, and a Statute. Since the texts do have a cohesive structure, äs shown by the analysis, it is suggested that other factors lead to difficulties in reading, such äs technical vocabulary and the length of clause andphrase elements.