My LPW instructor last semester said that in legal writing, we should use two spaces after a period. Is this just another arbitrary rule--like countless others in the Bluebook--that we should blindly obey? Ironically, I don't think the "two-space" rule is even a rule in the super comprehensive Bluebook. Isn't one space sufficient and more efficient? What we do we gain by tapping the space bar one more time (obviously, we don't lose much either, but I'd prefer not to)?

Here's an interesting article that argues that we should never use two spaces after a period: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

Do others have any thoughts on the seemingly arbitrary "two-space" rule?

-- DanielChung - 09 Apr 2012