Enhancing Legislative Drafting in the Commonwealth

Helen Xanthaki is Professor of Law and Legislative Drafting at the University of London, and Academic Director of the Sir William Dale Centre for Legislative Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London. She is the Director of the Commonwealth Course in Legislative Drafting, and Co-Director of the LLM in Advanced Legislative Studies via Distance Learning. She teaches legislative drafting at the University of London. She is the editor of the 2014 edition of Thornton’s Legislative Drafting, author of Drafting Legislation: Art and Technology of Rules for Regulation, and numerous articles on legislative drafting, legislative quality, and law reform. Helen is a consultant legislative trainer and drafter, and has worked for the EU, and numerous governments in the Commonwealth and beyond.

• 1. Quality of Legislation in the Commonwealth 2. Is legislative drafting a form of communication? 3. Clarity, precision and unambiguity: aspects for effective legislative drafting 4. In pursuit of clarity: how far should the drafter go? 5. Plain language: give it a try! 6. Drafting and plain language 7. Gender neutral language: an essential language tool to serve precision, clarity and unambiguity 8. Is gender neutral drafting an effective tool against gender inequality? 9. Legislative drafters: lawyers or not? 10. The role of the Rwandan legislative drafter in the legislative process: analysis stage 11. Prioritising legislation in the legislative process 12. Savings clause: get it right 13. The effect of transplanting legislation from one jurisdiction to another 14. Prerogative legislation as a paradigm of bad law making: the Chagos Islands 15. Incorporation of international and regional human rights instruments: comparative analysis of methods 16. Properly drafted arbitration agreements as a safeguard to its adequate interpretation: Rwanda as a case study