Legislative Drafting

and Interpretation of
Statutes
SARAH N VRANCKX
FACULTY OF LAW, UNAM
17 Aug 2023
COURSE OUTLINE

 Legislative language
 Punctuations
Course objectives

 Students are able to recognise and avoid archaic,

jargon and gender specific concepts in drafting
legislation; and
 To use proper legislative language .
Legislative language

 In legislative drafting, words are not just picket and

used. There are certain words that are chosen and
there are words that are not chosen because they are
not plain language, ambiguity, legalese , etc etc..
Legislative language

 Legislation must be consistent with the Constitution

and the other legislation.
 Defined terms must be used in a uniform manner.
 Use simple, clear and precise language.
 Avoid ambiguous, archaic and jargon words.
Legislative language

 Use present tense

 Use active voice.
 Must take the end users into consideration
(community members and persons implementing the
law).
 Use short and simple sentences.
Legislative language

 The material must be arranged in logical order.

 Choose your words careful.
 Use simple plain language.
 Latin expressions must be avoided.
 Legalese words must be avoided.
Page layout

 Space must be at “1.5” and font size must be “12

points” and font face must be “Times New Roman”.
Indentation

 The numbering in legislation takes this form:

 Establishment of Board

 3. (1) _____________ section and subsection

 (2) ____________ subsection

 (a) __________ paragraph

 (b) ___________ paragraph
Punctuations

 Punctuations are used by the drafter to assist the

reader of the law to understand the text easily.
 The general rules about punctuation are as follows:
 Punctuate sparingly and with purpose. Unnecessary
punctuation can be very distracting, so the drafter
must ensure that any punctuation serves a purpose.
Punctuations

 Punctuate for structure and not for sound. A drafter

must test every punctuation mark to see whether it
assist in explaining the structure of the sentence.
 Be conventional. While most other forms of prose
writing admit a measure of individuality, legislative
drafting does not. The drafter must adhere to the
conventional use of punctuation marks.
The comma (,)

 Commas serve two distinct but related purposes, to

separate and to enclose.
 A comma may be used in the following
circumstances:
 To separate items in a series of words, phrases or
clauses.
 Example
 Livestock means cattle, horses, goats, sheep and pigs.
The comma

 To separate long and independent clauses joined by

coordinating conjunction such as and, but, for, or, nor,
yet, so.
 Example
 The chairman and managing director is responsible to
the Board for the executing of the policy laid down by
the Board and for the control and management of
the Bank, and the general manager is responsible to
the chairman and managing director.
Enclosing commas

 Enclosing commas are used to enclose clauses not

essential to the meaning of a sentence. These non-
essential clauses are called non-restrictive.
 Example
 All the assets of the banks to which this Act applies,
which banks are listed in Schedule 2, are on the
commencement of this Act to be returned to the
shareholders.
The colon (:)

 A colon is placed after an expression that introduces a

series of items but only where the word “following” or
as “follows” is used, or where a proviso is provided.
Example of a colon

 I give notice that I have, under subsection (1) of that

section, appointed with effect from 1 March 2009 and
for a period of 4 years the following persons as
members of the Engineering Council of Namibia:

 G Mutwa;
 Erastus Gonteb; and
 Chipo Nduna
The dash (-)

 A dash is also used as an introducer of something pertinent that follows and is placed
after an expression that introduces a series of items.

 Example

 “v ehicle” includes –

 (a) a goods vehicle;

 (b) an omnibus;

 a motor cycle; or

 an invalid carriage.

The colon and dash (:-)

 The practice has been to use the colon dash after the
enacting formula but this is no longer the case.
The semi-colon (;)

 The semi-colon is used to co-ordinate a series of

paragraphs, subparagraphs and show a relationship
between elements of a sentence which a complete
break into separate sentences may obscure.
Example of semi-colon

 The Commission is the coordinating agency for the

enforcement of -

 the Anti- Corruption Act;

 the Prevention of Organised Crime Act; and

 any other law related to economic and financial
matters.
Hyphen (-)

 Must generally only be used when the word’ in its

proper spelling includes a hyphen.
 Example, Attorney-General
 The following are exceptions to this rule:
 hyphenate if the second element of the word is
capitalized or a figure;
 Example, Anti-Corruption, pre-1990
Hyphen

 hyphenate if the second element has more than one

word.

 Example, pre-colonial era, non-English speaking
people
Apostrophes (’)

 Apostrophes are used to mark the singular and plural

possessive forms. In legislation we normally use “of” to
indicate possession instead of using possessive
apostrophe.
 Example: Instead of saying “the court’s opinion” use
“in the opinion of the court”.
Capitalisation

 The drafter must use capital letters sparingly.

 Capital letters must be used for proper names.

 Examples, Namibia, Windhoek, Gabriel

Exclamation (!)

 A sudden cry or remark expressing surprise, strong

emotion, or pain.
 It is never used in legislation
Full stop (.)

 A full stop is used at the end of a sentence.

The proviso

 Phrases with the words “provided that” must be

avoided because they create ambiguity, they can
often be removed or substituted by the word “if”,
“but”, “except that”.
 Example
 Do not write: Provided that the fee is paid.

 Write: If the fee is paid.
Italics

 Italics are used as substitute for quotation marks or

latin words.
 Example: prior, prima facie
Question mark (?)

 When can we use question marks in legislation?

Nouns (Singular or plural)

 The singular includes the plural and the plural includes

the singular (Section 6(b) of the Interpretation of Laws
Proclamation).
 Use a singular noun instead of a plural noun. This will
avoid the problem of whether the rule applies to each
member of a class or to the class as a whole.
Nouns

 Example:
 Do not write: The doctor must treat patients suffering
from typhoid fever and malaria fever.
 Write: The doctor must treat each patient suffering
from typhoid fever and each patient suffering from
malaria fever.

Words and phrases to avoid

Avoid Use
 as to whether  Whether
 by reason of  Because
 furnish  Give
 if there are any  if any conditions do not
conditions which do not
comply comply
 in lieu of  instead of
 Shall  Must
 authorise and direct  Authorise or direct
 did not remember  forgot
Tautology (words and
phrases to avoid)

Do not write Write either

 order and direct  “order” or “direct”
 authorise and direct  “authorise” or “direct”
 each and every  “each” or “every”
 null and void  “null” or “void”
 full and complete  “full or complete”
Words and phrases to avoid

Avoid Use
 left out
 omitted
 did not pay attention to
 ignored
 said, aforesaid,
abovementioned,
 Avoid altogether
aforementioned,
beforementioned. and/or,
foregoing, forthwith, hereafter,
hereby, herein, hereinafter,
hereinbefore, hereto, hitherto,
preceding, pursuant to, save
that, succeeding, thereafter,
thereby, therefrom, thereof,
whatever, whatsoever, whereas,
wheresoever, whomsoever
Words and phrases to avoid

Do not write Write

 An employee must  An employee must
wear his identification wear his or her
card. identification .
 The regulations must be  The Minister must make
made by the Minister the regulations
 “No person may” or  “A person may not…”
“No person shall” or “A
person shall not”
Words and phrases to use
carefully

 Shall: Do not use “shall” or “shall not” when drafting

legislation. Use “must or is”
 Must: “must” is used to impose an obligation and
indicates a necessity to act.
 Will: “will” indicates a future action. Therefore it may
not be used as a command word.
Group Activity

 Rewrite the sentences in proper legislative language:

 A person who has contravened this Act will be
committing an offence.
 The director holds office until his successor is
appointed.
 The supervisor or his representative must inspect the
work done.
 He must present his application to …
 Provided that the fee is paid.
 THANK YOU