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BIBLIOGRAPHY
The sheer volume of works commenting on plain language and legislation can be overwhelming. The Journal of the Statute Law Society, the Statute Law Review, has recently provided a particularly rich source of articles for those with an interest in plain language drafting. The amount of material on the subject perhaps indicates that it may be more realistic to aim for continuous improvement in the style of legislation than to embark on a quest for the perfect drafting style, not least because of the need for legislative drafters to adapt and innovate as times change and language evolves.
This booklet adds to the mountain of information which is available. The following sources should assist anyone searching for a greater understanding of the relationship between plain language and legislation.
BOOKS
Michèle M Asprey, Plain Language for Lawyers, 3rd edition, The Federation Press, 2003
Peter Butt & Richard Castle, Modern Legal Drafting: A Guide to Using Clearer Language, Cambridge University Press, 2001
Craies on Legislation, 8th edition, ed. Daniel Greenberg, Sweet & Maxwell, 2004, Chapter 8
Martin Cutts, Lucid Law, 2nd edition, Plain Language Commission, 2000
Sir Ernest Gowers, The Complete Plain Words, Penguin, 1987
REPORTS & CONSULTATIONS
Report by the Committee appointed by the Lord President of the Council, chaired by Rt. Hon Sir (later Lord) David Renton (The Renton Committee), The Preparation of Legislation, Cmnd. 6033, HMSO, London, 1975
Inland Revenue, Tax Law Rewrite: The Way Forward, Consultative Document, London, 1996
Report of the Hansard Society Commission on the Legislative Process chaired the Lord Rippon of Hexham, Making the Law, Hansard Society, London, 1992
The Law Reform Commission (Ireland), Report on Statutory Drafting and Interpretation: Plain Language and the Law, LRC 61 - 2000, Dublin, 2000 (and preceding consultation paper, LRC - CP14 , Dublin, 1999)
Law Reform Commission of Victoria, Plain English and the Law, Report No. 9, Melbourne, 1987
Law Reform Commission of Victoria, Access to the Law: The Structure and Format of Legislation, Report No. 33, Melbourne, 1990
ARTICLES IN STATUTE LAW REVIEW
Francis Bennion, If It's Not Broke Don't Fix It: A Review of the New Zealand Law Commission's Proposals on the Format of Legislation, Vol. 15, No.3, 1994
Duncan Berry, Legislative Drafting: Could our Statutes be Simpler?, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1987
Mr Justice Brooke, The Role of the Law Commission in Simplifying Statute Law, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1995
Peter Butt, Modern Legal Drafting, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2002
Martin Cutts, Plain English in the law, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1996
Edward Donelan, Recent developments in statute law revision in Ireland, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2001
Editorial, Clarity of the Law Again, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1993
Editorial, Lucid law II, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2001
George Engle, "Bills are made to pass as razors are made to sell": practical constraints in the preparation of legislation, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1983
R. F. V. Heuston, Lord Chancellors and Statute Law Reform, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1988
The Rt Hon, The Lord Hope of Craighead, What a Second Chamber Can Do for Legislative Scrutiny, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2004
Brian Hunt, Plain Language in Legislative Drafting: An Achievable Objective or a Laudable Ideal?, Vol. 24, No .1, 2003
Brian Hunt, Plain Language in Legislative Drafting: Is it Really the Answer?, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2002
The Rt Hon. Sir Patrick Mayhew, Can Legislation Ever be Simple, Clear and Certain?, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1990
John McCluskie, New Approaches to UK Legislative Drafting: The View from Scotland, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2004
Timothy Millett, The House of Lords as a Re-Writing Chamber, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1988
The Hon. Mr Justice Nazareth, Legislative Drafting: Could our Statutes be Simpler?, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1987
Sheriff C. G. B. Nicholson, Codification of Scots Law: A Way Ahead, or a Blind Alley?, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1997
The Rt Hon. Lord Renton, Current Drafting Practices and Problems in the United Kingdom, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1990
Alec Samuels, Consolidation: A Plea, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2005
Alec Samuels, Statements of purpose and principle in British statutes, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1998
Jack Stark, Should the Main Goal of Statutory Drafting Be Accuracy or Clarity?, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1994
Ruth Sullivan, Some Implications of Plain Language Drafting, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2001
Euan Sutherland, Clearer Drafting and the Timeshare Act 1992: A Response from Parliamentary Counsel to Mr Cutts, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1993
Edwin Tanner, Clear, Simple and Precise Legislative Drafting: Australian Guidelines Explicated Using an EC Directive, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2004
Richard Thomas, Plain English and the Law, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1985
Ian M. L. Turnbull, Clear Legislative Drafting: New Approaches in Australia, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1990
Ian M. L. Turnbull, Legislative drafting in plain language and statements of general principle, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1997
Ian M. L. Turnbull, Problems of Legislative Drafting, Vol. 7, No. 2, 1986
OTHER ARTICLES
Justice R I Barrett, A judicial response to plain language, Clarity, No. 49, May 2003
Duncan Berry, Audience Analysis in the Legislative Drafting Process, The Loophole, Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel, June 2000
Martin Cutts, Unspeakable Acts? Clarifying the Language and Typography of an Act of Parliament, Words at Work, Stockport, 1993
Barbro Ehrenberg-Sundin, Plain language in Sweden, the results after 30 years, Speech given at plain language conference, Lenguaje Ciudadano, Mexico, 2004, available at www.plainlanguage.gov
David C. Elliott, Constitutions in a Modern Setting - The Language of the Practice of Law, a paper presented at Lawasia Conference, Hong Kong, September 1989, available at www.davidelliott.ca
Malcolm Gammie, Legislation for Business: Is it Fit For Public Consumption?, Fiscal Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, 1994
Nick Horn, A Dainty Dish to Set before the King: Plain Language and Legislation, presented to the Fourth Biennial Conference of the PLAIN Language Association International, September 2002 (available at www.plainlanguagenetwork.org)
Nick Horn, Legislative Drafting in Australia, New Zealand and Ontario: Note on an informal survey, The Loophole, Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel, March 2005
David Hull, Drafters' Devils, The Loophole, Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel, June 2000
John Mark Keyes, The democratic challenge to drafting readable laws, Clarity, No. 51, May 2004
Joseph Kimble, Answering the Critics of Plain Language, The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, 1994-95 (available at www.plainlanguagenetwork.org)
Joseph Kimble, The Great Myth That Plain Language Is Not Precise, The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, 1998-2000 (available at www.plainlanguagenetwork.org)
Hilary Penfold, When words aren't enough: Graphics and other innovations in legislative drafting, Paper for Language and the Law Conference, university of Texas, 2001, available at www.opc.gov.au
Ruth Sullivan, The Promise of Plain Language Drafting, 47 McGill Law Journal 97, 2001
Peter Tiersma, The Plain English Movement, available at www.languageandlaw.org
MANUALS AND GUIDES
Hawaii Legislative Drafting Manual, 9th edition, 1996, available at www.hawaii.gov/lrb
Interinstitutional agreement on common guidelines for the quality of drafting of Community legislation (OJ C. 73/01, 17.3.1999)
Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, The Council and the Commission for persons involved in the drafting of legislation within the Community institutions, 2003
Maine Legislative Drafting Manual, 1st edition, 1990, revised through 2004, available at www.maine.gov
Ministry of Justice (Sweden), The Swedish Government promotes clear drafting, Stockholm, 2004
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Drafting Rules for Uniform or Model Acts, Chicago, 2003
Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (Australia), Plain English Manual, available at www.opc.gov.au
WEBSITES
Clarity: www.clarity-international.net
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, www.nccusl.org
Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (Australia): www.opc.gov.au
Parliamentary Counsel Office (New Zealand): www.pco.parliament.govt.nz
Parliamentary Counsel Office ( UK) : www.parliamentary-counsel.gov.uk
Plain English Campaign: www.plainenglish.co.uk
Plain Language Association International: www.plainlanguagenetwork.org
Plain Language Commission: www.clearest.co.uk
Statute Law Review: http://slr.oupjournals.org/
US Government: www.plainlanguage.gov
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