The Commonwealth Legislative Drafting Manual guides the practitioner step by step through the various things he or she needs to know. It also contains a series of appendices relating to the procedure for the preparation of legislation, the contents of drafting instructions, and some hints to the beginner on the best approaches to the task.
In 1976, recognising that there was a shortage of trained legislative drafters in the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth Secretariat first published a legislative drafting manual aimed at informing those practitioners with little or no previous experience in the skill, and assisting those with some experience who had never considered why drafting needed to be undertaken in a particular way. That aim remains, but more than 40 years later there have been important changes in the way legislation is drafted. These mainly concern the perceived need to make it more accessible to those to be affected by it, in particular by the use of plain language and sentence structures that relate more closely to those used in formal non-legislative documents. In the light of these and other changes, the Commonwealth Legislative Drafting Manual has been completely rewritten, and it now guides the practitioner step by step through the various things he or she needs to know. It also contains a series of appendices relating to the procedure for the preparation of legislation, the contents of drafting instructions, and some hints to the beginner on the best approaches to the task.
Legislative drafting is an extremely onerous, exacting and highly-skilled task. What is clearly conceived in the mind may not be easily expressed with clarity and precision in words. It is a highly technical discipline, and one of the most vigorous forms of writing. Few lawyers have the special combination of skills, aptitudes and temperament necessary for a competent draftsperson. This book provides, for the first time, detailed commentary on legislative drafting with a specific focus on the Commonwealth, covering: the ethics of legislative drafting, teaching, training and retention of drafters, the role of legislative drafting in good governance, keeping the statute book up-to-date, drafting by more than words: the use of graphics, labels and formulae in legislation; and the particular challenges of drafting for small states. It constitutes a key reference for legislative drafters, parliamentary counsel and professionals involved in this field in the Commonwealth and beyond. This book was based on a special issue of Commonwealth Law Bulletin.
The quality of legislation within the Commonwealth is an essential element of democracy and the rule of law. Although a neglected territory until recently, the legislative drafting debate is at the forefront of academic and professional fora at a Commonwealth and at a national level. This book brings to light the academic foundations of legislative quality and the many recent innovations deriving from Commonwealth jurisdictions. This book was based on a special issue of the Commonwealth Law Bulletin.
This book outlines the procedures used in many Commonwealth countries in key areas of the legislative process, especially on the executive side of government. It also covers the procedures in the legislature and the entry into force of different types of legislation. The jurisdictions discussed include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as others in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. The intention is to assist legislative counsel, politicians and students gain a wider perspective of processes in which drafters, civil servants and politicians participate. In this process, the book also lays bare certain procedures that should now be considered international best practice in the Commonwealth. The book is a follow-up to the authors well-received earlier publication The Legislative Process: A Handbook for Public Officials (2009). However, this book considerably expands on the earlier one in terms of the countries and areas covered, as well as the whole approach to the subject.
