Guidelines - Legislative Drafting

Angola: Parliament Legislative Year Opens

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:00:00 +0200

The Angolan National Assembly (Parliament) will hold a solemn session on Wednesday to open its legislative year that will go until 15 August 2009.

Wisconsin Legislative Drafting Records - Quick Guide

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Drafting records are written materials, letters, and memoranda given to or created by the legislative drafting attorney in the process of drafting a bill, resolution, or subsequent amendments. Although these records are not designed to document legislative intent, they may provide some insight into the meaning of statutory language. The Wisconsin Legislative Drafting Records database is generated from scanned images created for by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau.

India : Somnath emphasises importance of training in legislative drafting

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today emphasised the importance of legislative drafting and having a regular legislature secretariat for the smooth and orderly conduct of the proceedings of the House. nteracting with parliamentary officials from 22 countries attending the six-week-long 'International Training Programme in Legislative Drafting', organised by the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, he stressed the importance of good drafting of legislation and said that laws have ''not only to be clear and precise but they should also deal with the people's problems.'' ''Unless the spirit behind the legislation is understood in proper perspective, they cannot be drafted properly.

Supreme Court of Canada Courtroom Modernization Project Moves Ahead

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:00:00 +0200

The Supreme Court of Canada has just added a section to its website about its Courtroom Modernization Project.

1999-2005 Drafting Records Available at WI Legislature Web Site

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:00:00 +0200

I've been given the green light to announce that Wisconsin Legislative Drafting Records are now available online at the Wisconsin State Legislature Web site. Records from the 1999 through 2005 sessions are available.

Significant Progress' Reported In Regional Legislative Drafting Capacity

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:00:00 +0200

The Commonwealth and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariats have reported significant progress in legislative drafting capacity building for the Pacific region. This follows the successful completion of the first Pacific Law Drafters Technical Forum held 26-28th June in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

The Technical Forum brought together 12 drafters from six Forum Island Countries (FICs) - the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, plus New Zealand and Australia.

Over the three-day program, a range of technical issues were addressed with the aim of producing better laws for FICs.

Katalaina Sapolu, spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), stated:

“Training for Pacific law drafters has historically been a neglected area in building good governance infrastructure in the region.

“Better drafted laws make a significant contribution to improving good governance, economic growth and security.

“Technical training provides law drafters with new and improved skills. Undoubtedly this will contribute to their ability to prepare clearer and more efficient legislation and regulations for their respective governments and communities.”

The Technical Forum was sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the program prepared and presented by the New Zealand Office of Parliamentary Counsel.

The meeting in Port Vila also reviewed progress on the Action Plan for Sustainable Legislative Drafting Capacity Building (the Action Plan).

The Action Plan is a 14-part blueprint to address a critical area of legal infrastructure for FICs, covering issues such as recruitment, training, support and retention of FIC law drafters.

At the Technical Forum meeting in Port Vila, considerable progress was reported in implementation of the Action Plan. This included:

• The development of a Pilot Advanced Diploma course for law drafting to be conducted by the University of the South Pacific Law School in Port Vila. The first 12 week residential course is planned for December 2007-February 2008. This course will be sponsored by ComSec for the next three years.

• Development of a Pacific Law Drafters Network to provide professional and personal support for FIC law drafters. The Network will include a website with networking, ‘help desk’ and training information facilities.

• Making available to FIC government law drafters a Law Precedent Data Base to be provided by the New Zealand Office of Parliamentary Counsel.

• Progress in developing linkages between the 14 FICs’ Law Drafting Offices and counterparts in the 11 Australian and New Zealand Law Drafting Offices.

Said Andie Fong Toy, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat’s Officer-in-Charge: “With ComSec’s ongoing leadership and support, this partnered effort between ComSec, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and University of the South Pacific Law School, and the ongoing support of New Zealand and Australia, the Action Plan should contribute to improving Legal Infrastructure for the region. This will materially assist with implementation of the Pacific Plan.”

8th International Conference Law Via The Internet

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:00:00 +0200

LexUM, the University of Montreal's legal informatics laboratory, is hosting the 8th International Conference Law Via The Internet to be held in Montreal on October 25-26th, 2007. "This year, a number of relatively innovative topics have been chosen for the Conference: we will introduce new themes relating to doctrine, document preservation and legal information overload. Doctrine and its production and publication are very high profile. Indeed, issues related to documents that complement primary sources of law are certainly the next frontier. Preservation of both pre-digital law and that born today in digital environments will also be the focus of a major session. Also, issues related to the proliferation of legal information will be presented and discussed. The more traditional themes of development through promotion of access to legal information and, generally, the obstacles, challenges and lessons learned with respect to free publication will round out the program..." LexUM, the University of Montreal's legal informatics laboratory, is hosting the 8th International Conference Law Via The Internet to be held in Montreal on October 25-26th, 2007. "This year, a number of relatively innovative topics have been chosen for the Conference: we will introduce new themes relating to doctrine, document preservation and legal information overload. Doctrine and its production and publication are very high profile. Indeed, issues related to documents that complement primary sources of law are certainly the next frontier. Preservation of both pre-digital law and that born today in digital environments will also be the focus of a major session. Also, issues related to the proliferation of legal information will be presented and discussed. The more traditional themes of development through promotion of access to legal information and, generally, the obstacles, challenges and lessons learned with respect to free publication will round out the program..." read more
"This year, a number of relatively innovative topics have been chosen for the Conference: we will introduce new themes relating to doctrine, document preservation and legal information overload. Doctrine and its production and publication are very high profile. Indeed, issues related to documents that complement primary sources of law are certainly the next frontier. Preservation of both pre-digital law and that born today in digital environments will also be the focus of a major session. Also, issues related to the proliferation of legal information will be presented and discussed. The more traditional themes of development through promotion of access to legal information and, generally, the obstacles, challenges and lessons learned with respect to free publication will round out the program..."