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Critique BibliographiqueIAN McLEOD, Principles of Legislative and Regulatory Drafting, Hart Publishing (2009)

Document Cited authorities 4 Cited in Related
Vincent
Pages333-337
Published date01 June 2012
DOI10.3366/ajicl.2012.0037
Date01 June 2012
AuthorTonye Clinton Jaja
<p>As Ian McLeod has stated in the introductory page and the back page of his book, the primary objective of the book is as follows: <disp-quote> <p>The book provides an invaluable introduction for those engaged in legislative and regulatory drafting, while also being useful to anyone who is interested in the creation and interpretation of legislative and regulatory texts … It explains how drafters can convert legislative policy into a <italic>form which has the desired effect in the most direct and accessible way</italic>. (My emphasis.)</p> </disp-quote>The italicised words above will serve as the key criterion for reviewing McLeod's book. The overall question we shall seek to answer is: does <italic>Principles of Legislative and Regulatory Drafting</italic> present information on legislative drafting in a ‘form which has the desired effect in the most direct and accessible way’?</p> <p>This book review will apply a two-step approach: the first step is a review of the overall structure of the book and the second is a review of the contents of the book chapter by chapter.</p> THE STRUCTURE OF MCLEOD'S BOOK

In line with this, the first question is: is the overall structure of Principles of Legislative and Regulatory Drafting presented in ‘a form which has the desired effect in the most direct and accessible way’? The answer to this question is yes. McLeod's book essentially covers the core aspects of legislative drafting that are recognised by the leading authors in the field of legislative drafting the world over, from the classic treatise on legislative drafting by Thornton to the latest treatise on legislative drafting by Salembier. McLeod's book is divided into ten chapters. The chapters are 1. Drafting and Communication; 2. Principles of Interpretation; 3. Drafting Instructions; 4. Constitutional Considerations and the Protection of Human Rights; 5. General Principles of Drafting; 6. Powers and Duties; 7. Licensing and Registration; 8. Statutory Corporations; 9. Penal Provisions; and 10. Subordinate Legislation.

From a cursory reading of the table of contents of the major textbooks on legislative drafting, any diligent reader will find that majority of the core themes in McLeod's book are the same in these established textbooks in legislative drafting. One example that adequately illustrates this point is with respect to McLeod's discussion of the principles of interpretation (Chapter 2). This theme is discussed by the leading textbooks on legislative drafting, namely Thornton;1

See G. C. Thornton, Legislative Drafting, 4th edn, Butterworths (1996) pp. 112–22, which deals with interpretation of statutes.

Seidman, Seidman and Abeyesekere;2

See A. Seidman, R. B. Seidman and N. Abeyesekere, Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change, Kluwer Law International (2001), ch. 12, pp. 303–17, which discusses internal aids to interpretation of statutes.

 Stefanou and Xanthaki;3

See C. Stefanou and H. Xanthaki (eds), Drafting Legislation – A Modern Approach, Ashgate (2008), ch. 7, pp. 91–106, which deals with retrospectivity in the drafting and interpretation of...

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