Ssanjnna Gupta
Legal pads are among the most famous types of notepad. They got their name because they have been used by lawyers for decades, although many other consumers use them as well.
The reason for the yellow color of classic pads is actually rather mysterious, although there are several competing theories. One suggestion is that the yellow color is more “stimulating” and makes dark ink written on it easier to read. Another theory is that the color was chosen to hide the age of the paper, or the fact that it was made of recycled materials.
It is believed that the legal pad was invented by a mill worker named Thomas Holley in 1888 in Massachusetts. Holley got the idea of collecting the tons of paper scrape off the floor of the mill and stitching them together to make pads of paper. Though the paper in his pads was originally white, they became so popular that Holley quit his job at the mill and started forming the American Pad and Paper Company known by the name AMPAD.
There are lots of theories for why legal pads are yellow, but no one knows if they are firm. Some say they were yellow from the beginning. The theory is that because the pads were originally created using the pieced- together scraps, they looked cheap and low quality and Holley dyed them yellow to make them a classier. This sounds reasonable, but it is probably not true because dyeing paper at that time would have been very expensive and not worth cutting into profits. Others believe that yellow is easier on the eyes because it does not create as much glare as white and thus yellow paper was obvious way to go. Others say yellow paper was beneficial because it didn’t show age like white paper.
Around 1900, a local judge asked Holley to add vertical line down the left side of the paper to create a margin where he could make notes. Those margins are known as down lines and are always red and drawn from the left edge of the paper because technically, the only requirement for a true “legal pad” is that it must have margins which are 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) from the left hand side. . Apart from yellow paper, blue lines and gummed, tear-off top, the red margin is the only requirement for a pad to qualify as a legal pad. In other words, yellow, blue or pink paper without red margin is not a legal pad.
Whatever the original reason, legal pads are commonly associated with the color yellow. Many legal firms have actually switched to white pads, however, because yellow paper cannot easily be recycled. Some people also prefer the brighter contrast of dark ink on white paper. It seems unlikely, however, that the yellow paper will ever vanish entirely.
(The author is a Law student)
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