Current Developments
| DOI | 10.1093/slr/4.3.110 |
| Pages | 110-120 |
| Date | 01 July 1983 |
| Year | 1983 |
| Published By | Oxford University Press |
Current Developments
Parliamentary Counsel and Law Draftsmen
to
Associate
A small piece of legislative history, perhaps unrecorded and certainly
fated not to come to
fruition,
was proposed in one of the three jurisdictions
of the United Kingdom some three decades ago. The idea was for the
formation of a drafting college, both to provide a forum for discussion by
draftsmen and to assist in the training of draftsmen. Although the
foundation stone (whether literal or metaphorical) of such a college was
never laid, the instructional function which was contemplated may be
regarded as having been fulfilled by the courses on drafting subsequently
provided by the Commonwealth Secretariat. As for the other function—
that of discussion among draftsmen—that did not become institutional-
ised, and contact depended on correspondence and the intermittent visits
of draftsmen from other jurisdictions. But news
from
Australia has arrived
on the editorial
desk,
indicating that
this
situation
is
about
to
change.
The venue for change was Sri Lanka and the formal machinery was the
meeting of Commonwealth Law Ministers held there in February of this
year. The textual authority is to be found in the
final
communique^ where
Ministers "supported the early formation of a Commonwealth Associa-
tion of Parliamentary Counsel and Law Draftsmen proposed to promote
co-operation among draftsmen." This is to be "a non-governmental body
run by the draftsmen themselves" like other Commonwealth professional
groupings, the parallel being drawn with the Commonwealth Association
of Tax Administrators. This section of the communiqu6 concluded by
accepting an offer from Australia to act as headquarters for the new body
and to "provide editorial services for a regular newsletter for the
Association," the last item being one which readers of the
Raritw
must
surely applaud as an addition to the literature on legislation.
Following up this initiative with commendable speed, an inaugural
meeting of the Association is to be held during the Seventh Common-
wealth Law Conference, which is to be held in Hong Kong between
September 19 and 23 of this year. Thus in little more than half a year the
new Association will be launched, in appropriately Commonwealth
surroundings. And the Australian offer of a headquarters and a
newsletter—a fixed point and a circulating publication—should ensure
continuity between meetings and visits, and between draftsmen in divers
jurisdictions and countries widely distributed geographically. The
appropriate word is surely—Floreall
To the Custodians of Local and Personal and Private
Acts:
This Plea
While the public and general Acts are those which are referred to most
frequently in the pages of the
Revuw,
this is not to be taken as implying
that the local, personal and private Acts are an unimportant part of the
110
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