Legislative drafting - An introduction to theories and principles

"The drafter has skills and knowledge not generally possessed by policy makers. The drafter is an architect...an expert...a specialist...The difference between a legal mechanic and a legal craftsman turns largely on this point." - G. Thornton, Legislative Drafting (London, Butterworths, 1996) p.125. As the quotation shows, without a knowledge of legislative drafting theory and principles, a legislative drafter's competence is as incomplete as a motor mechanic in contrast to an automobile engineer. This book introduces the reader to the relevant theories and principles that are necessary for promoting quality legislation in the field of legislative drafting. A "legislative drafting theory" or "legislative theory" is defined by the Seidmans as: "the structure of a drafter's justification for a bill constitutes the operative face of a de facto legislative theory and methodology" . The first and fundamental theory is the necessity for a regulatory framework for legislative drafting as a holistic platform for promoting quality legislation. Closely related is the principle of effectiveness of legislation as the paramount goal in legislative drafting. By combining these two fundamental principles this book demonstrates how legislative drafters can improve the quality of legislation. The purpose of this book is not to lay down any hard-and-fast rules but to provoke thinking by introducing the reader to principles derived from legislative drafting in the dominant jurisdictions of the common law, civil law and the European Union law. Using legislative drafting in Nigeria as a case study, this book demonstrates how application of these theories and principles are likely to prove beneficial even in the most challenging jurisdiction. Examples from Nigeria's oil and gas legislation have been chosen to illustrate the hypothesis. Oil and gas legislation have been chosen considering its transnational nature and pervasive impact on the economy. This book is a significant contribution in the field of legislative drafting considering that it is the first book that discusses the quality of legislation and not techniques of drafting which has suffered from a paralysis of analysis in other legislative drafting texts. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tonye Clinton Jaja, is the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Legislative Drafting and Law Reform. He is the Secretary of the Legislative Drafting Law Clinic, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, where he is completing a PhD in Legislative Drafting Law. Tonye Clinton Jaja has recently been appointed Visiting Associate Professor/Coordinator, Postgraduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting Course, Kiit Law School, Kiit University, India.