Book Review: Legislative Drafting: A New Approach
| Published date | 01 March 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X7800900110 |
| Author | D. C. Pearce |
| Date | 01 March 1978 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
132 Federal Law Reviea'
[VOLUME
9
Legislative Drafting: ANew Approach by
SIR
WILLIAM
DALE,
K.C.M.G.,
of Gray's
Inn
and Lincoln's Inn, Barrister; Visiting Fellow, Cambridge
University Centre of International Studies, formerly Legal Adviser
Commonwealth Office, General Counsel U.N.R.W.A. (Butterworths,
1977), pp. i-xix, 1-341. Cloth, recommended retail price $32.50
(ISBN:
0406
17403
2).
A. P. Herbert once wrote apoem which began:
I'm
the parliamentary draftsman and Imake the country's laws
And of half the litigation
I'm
undoubtedly the cause.
The poem concluded:
I'm
the parliamentary draftsman and they tell me it's afact
That
Ioften make amuddle of asimple little Act
I'm
the parliamentary draftsman and they take me in their stride
Oh how nice to
be
acritic of ajob you've never tried.
Sir William Dale's book on legislative drafting also seeems to start by
castigating the draftsman and conclude by determining that much of
the problem lies elsewhere.
Sir William Dale has tried to demonstrate, by comparing legislative
drafting in France, Germany and Sweden with
that
in the United
Kingdom, that United Kingdom drafting
is
deficient in many respects.
He does this by citing anumber of examples of legislation dealing with
like topics in the four countries chosen for his models.
In
each instance
be endeavours to show that the United Kingdom version
is
the least
intelligible and most inelegant. He succeeds admirably in his purpose.
Regrettably, however, the examples tend to overweigh the interest in
the book. Well over half the book
is
devoted to sections of comparative
legislation to which
is
appended alimited amount of commentary by
the author pointing out the benefits and weaknesses in the particular
Acts chosen.
It
is
something of apity that this makes the book rather
boring as the content of the rest of the book
is
particularly interesting.
Sir William surveys the law-making process in France, Sweden and
Germany and these chapters go far towards undermining the rather
complacent attitude adopted in Westminster systems that the law-
making process there followed
is
superior to that of other countries.
There
is
also amost pointed chapter on statutory interpretation that
reviews the differing approaches of the courts to legislation in the
jurisdictions chosen. The concluding chapters rebut many of the ill-
informed criticisms levelled against European legislation while demon-
strating the numerous defects to be found in English legislation. The
book concludes with anumber of interesting suggestions for change.
The criticisms levelled by Sir William at the present position fall
primarily under two headings. First, in regard to the process of law-
making itself and, secondly, in regard to the structure of legislation.
As far as the law-making process
is
concerned, the' author's examin-
ation of other jurisdictions shows that legislation goes through three
stages-the
drafting stage, the revising stage and the enacting stage.
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