4.2 Skills of Legislative Drafting

The process skills (the drafting's stages — the exam's sequence): The instruction stage: understanding the policy — what mischief is to be remedied (Heydon's question asked BEFORE drafting), what the client (the ministry, the sponsor) actually wants, what the options are (including "no legislation needed"); The analysis stage: the research done — the existing law mapped (what is already on the statute book, what must be amended or repealed), the comparative models studied, the definitions needed identified; The design stage: the architecture planned — the arrangement (the preliminary matters; the principal enacting provisions; the administration and machinery; the penalties and enforcement; the miscellaneous, transitional and repealing provisions); the numbering discipline (parts, sections, sub-sections, clauses — the decimal structure); The composition stage: the drafting proper — the enacting words; the long title (the scope's signboard), the preamble where needed; the definitions section (the defined terms bank); the substantive provisions (each a complete command: the subject, the action, the exception, the consequence); the schedule technique (the detail separated from the principle); The scrutiny stage: the self-review (the ambiguities hunted, the readings from every affected party's position — the claimant's, the defendant's, the administrator's); the consultation (the stakeholders, the experts, the bar's comments); the revision (the drafts iterated — the "draft is re-draft" maxim). The technical skills: the definitions' craft (the exhaustive vs…