Drafting Legislation A Modern Approach

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 William's view of universality in the definition and elements of quality in legislation is right or not. The volume is of critical interest to students and scholars of European law and the philosophy and theory of law.

Chapter 1 On Transferability of Legislative Solutions, Helen Xanthaki; Chapter 2 Drawing the Line, Stephen Laws CB; Chapter 3 Legislative Intention, Ian McLeod; Chapter 4 Legislator’s Intent, Justice Keith Mason; Chapter 5 The Techniques of Gender-neutral Drafting, Daniel Greenberg; Chapter 6 Drafting Legislation at the Tax Law Rewrite Project, Hayley Rogers; Chapter 7 Retrospectivity in the Drafting and Interpretation of Legislation, Lydia Clapinska; Chapter 8 Repealing or Amending Legislation by Non-Legislative Means, Alec Samuels; Chapter 9 Pre-legislative Scrutiny, Zione Ntaba; Chapter 10 The Role of the Legislative Drafter in Promoting Social Transformation, Richard C. Nzerem; Chapter 11 Improving Democratic Development by Better Regulation, Ulrich Karpen; Chapter 12 Drafting Principles of Existing European Contract Law, Gerhard Dannemann; Chapter 13 Drafting of EU Acts: A View From the European Commission, William Robinson; Chapter 14 Drafting to Implement EU Law, Valsamis Mitsilegas; Chapter 15 Procedures for the Approximation of Albanian Legislation with the Acquis Communautaire, Alfred E. Kellermann; Chapter 16 Compromise and Clarity in International Drafting, Eileen Denza; Chapter 17 Can Legislation Rank as Literature?, Helen Caldwell; Chapter 18 Open Management of Legislative Documents, Giovanni Sartor; Chapter 19 Between Policy and Implementation, Ann Seidman, Robert B. Seidman; Chapter 20 Drafters, Drafting and the Policy Process, Constantin Stefanou;

Dr Constantin Stefanou and Dr Helen Xanthaki are Senior Lecturers at the Sir William Dale Centre for Legislative Studies and Directors of the LLM in Advanced Legislative Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. Dr Xanthaki is a member of the Board of the Statute Law Society. Dr Stefanou and Dr Xanthaki have extensive experience in researching and teaching aspects of legislative studies and legislative drafting. Both have published widely on this and related topics. They consult governments and international organizations on aspects of legislative drafting and the legislative process and have worked for the European Commission, the European Parliament, the governments of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Kossovo, Bosnia, Greece and Ukraine.