Legislation has traditionally been viewed as a text addressed to and used by lawyers and judges. But with enhanced accessibility via electronic publication of legislation in many Commonwealth jurisdictions, drafters speak not only to lawyers and judges, but also to untrained users. This shift of the legislative audience has changed radically the requirements for legislation and its drafting. This is crucially important as the quality of legislation within the Commonwealth remains an essential element of democracy and the rule of law. The book aims to alert policy officers, legal officers, law...

This book constitutes the first thorough academic analysis of legislative drafting. By placing the study of legislation and its principles within the paradigm of Flyberg's phronetic social sciences, the book offers a novel approach which breaks the tradition of unimaginative past descriptive reiterations of drafting conventions. Instead of prescribing rules for legislation, it sets out to identify efficacy as the main aim of the actors in the policy, legislative, and drafting processes, and effectiveness as the main goal in the drafting of legislation. Through the prism of effectiveness as...

This books provides a practical introduction to legislation. Written by a team of experts, made up of both practitioners and scholars, it will allow national institutions to devise their own drafting manuals and to draft laws. The examination focuses on general principles and best practice within the context of the different governmental systems in Europe. Questions explored include subsidiarity, legitimacy, efficacy, effectiveness, efficiency, proportionality, monitoring and regulatory impact assessment. Taking a practical approach which starts from evidence-based rationality, it represents...

Drafting Legislation sets out to prove Sir William Dale's doctrine that the rules for drafting good quality legislation are the same in common and civil systems of law. Legislative solutions can therefore serve the drafter, the judge and the practitioner of any jurisdiction. The book discusses the general issue of quality in legislation from the legislative process to the actual drafting interpretation and enforcement. It also analyzes topics related to quality in legislation such as clarity, precision and disambiguity, plain language and gender-neutral language and assesses whether Sir...