Contest law and punishment in longish piece of text (7,8)

I believe the answer is:

complex sentence

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'longish piece of text' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'contest law and punishment' is the wordplay.
'contest' becomes 'comp' (competition).
'law' becomes 'lex' (Latin for 'law').
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'punishment' becomes 'sentence' (eg a prison sentence).
'comp'+'lex'+'sentence'='COMPLEX SENTENCE'

'in' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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