Interpretation of Statute as a Tool for Legislative Drafting
CHAPTER ONE (1)
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In this long essay, attempt will be made to discuss on why interpretation of statute is a tool in legislative drafting, emphasizing on why draft person has to be very careful on the use of words having in mind that, the document belongs to the public not only to the lawyers.
Consequently, this long essay will pay greater attention on the rules of interpretation, the role of legislative counsel in legislative drafting, plain language and grammatical structures to avoid.
The principal objects of interpretation of statutes are basically three:
1. To shorten and simplify written laws by avoiding verbosity and repetition.
2. To promote consistency in the form of language of written law.
3. To clarify the effect of laws by the means of interpretation1.
The desire to shorten Acts by removing the necessity of repetition may be traced back to the forerunner of modern interpretation Acts “the united Kingdom Act of 1950 which was popularly known as Brouham’s Act. Many of the best known interpretation provisions may trace their ancestry to the above interpretation Act, for example, the provision that says male includes female and singular includes plural2.
A legislative sentence is easier to be understood if it is not cluttered with phrases such as ‘he or she or they, as the case may be’. The best example of provision of this kind is seen in Section 16 of the interpretation Act 1978 (UK) which set out savings and other provisions of general application3.
The obesity of written law increase every year and interpretation of statute makes useful contribution in keeping the laws under check. However, the process of shortening laws by interpretation statutes sometimes takes the risk of defeating its own end, except where provision is made in an interpretation Act to take care of such risk, written laws should not be misleading or incomprehensible without reference to interpretation, in so many, instances
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In this long essay, attempt will be made to discuss on why interpretation of statute is a tool in legislative drafting, emphasizing on why draft person has to be very careful on the use of words having in mind that, the document belongs to the public not only to the lawyers.
Consequently, this long essay will pay greater attention on the rules of interpretation, the role of legislative counsel in legislative drafting, plain language and grammatical structures to avoid.
The principal objects of interpretation of statutes are basically three:
1. To shorten and simplify written laws by avoiding verbosity and repetition.
2. To promote consistency in the form of language of written law.
3. To clarify the effect of laws by the means of interpretation1.
The desire to shorten Acts by removing the necessity of repetition may be traced back to the forerunner of modern interpretation Acts “the united Kingdom Act of 1950 which was popularly known as Brouham’s Act. Many of the best known interpretation provisions may trace their ancestry to the above interpretation Act, for example, the provision that says male includes female and singular includes plural2.
A legislative sentence is easier to be understood if it is not cluttered with phrases such as ‘he or she or they, as the case may be’. The best example of provision of this kind is seen in Section 16 of the interpretation Act 1978 (UK) which set out savings and other provisions of general application3.
The obesity of written law increase every year and interpretation of statute makes useful contribution in keeping the laws under check. However, the process of shortening laws by interpretation statutes sometimes takes the risk of defeating its own end, except where provision is made in an interpretation Act to take care of such risk, written laws should not be misleading or incomprehensible without reference to interpretation, in so many, instances
Bibliography: 1. Thornton, GC legislative drafting 3rd ed (Butter worths London, 1987) 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/statutory interpretation 15/2/2009 3. Jack D. legislative law process (west publishing co. 1975) 4. Patchett, K.W 5. Turnbull, I.M.L Clear legislative drafting new approach (Australia (1990) statute law Review. 6. Australian law commission on plain English approach (1987) 7. Code J 8. Asprey, M.M. Plain language for lawyers (2nd ed) federal press 1987) 9. Dick, Q 10. Shikyil, S.S. practical guide on legislative drafting (policy analysis and research project, Abuja 2006) 11. Golver, G