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Overview

LGST 551 considers the nature of legislation and how it is prepared in common-law jurisdictions. This course teaches how to convert simple instructions into basic legislative provisions that are correctly formatted and structured, as well as clear and effective.

Outline

LGST 551 consists of nine Sections, organized in two Modules.

Module 1: The Basics

Section 1: What Is Legislative Drafting All About?

1. Legislative expression

Section 2: What Is Legislation?

1. Types of legislation
2. Classification of primary legislation (Bill and Acts)
3. Structure and format of Bills and Acts
4. Conventional arrangement of Bills and Acts

Section 3: Why Do We Draft as We Do in Parliamentary Systems?

1. Historical development of legislative drafting
2. Theoretical foundations of legislative drafting
3. Principal characteristics of drafting in parliamentary jurisdictions
4. Drafting objectives

Module 2: Writing Legislative Sentences

Section 1: What Do We Need to Know About Grammar?

1. Why is grammar important for drafting?
2. What grammatical terms do we need to know?
3. What common grammatical mistakes should we watch for?

Section 2: What Are the Basics of Writing Legislative Sentences?

1. Starting to write
2. Basic components of legislative sentences
3. Types of legislative sentences

Section 3: How Do We Put Together the Components of Legislative Sentences?

1. Principal subject
2. Principal predicate
3. Predicate modifiers

Section 4: How Do We Punctuate and Capitalize Legislation?

1. Punctuation
2. Capitalization

Section 5: How Can We Develop Good Legislative Style?

1. General considerations
2. Developing good legislative style
3. Gender-neutral drafting
4. Some additional matters of style

Section 6: What Can Go Wrong in Legislative Expression?

1. Subjects
2. Verbs
3. Modifiers

Learning outcomes

LGST 551 has four major learning outcomes. After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain the nature of legislative drafting in the parliamentary tradition.
2. Apply the principles of legislative syntax and expression for writing grammatical legislative sentences.
3. Comply with standard drafting conventions when punctuating legislative sentences.
4. Use plain language and a gender-neutral style when drafting.

Evaluation

To receive credit for LGST 551, you must complete and submit all of the assignments and achieve a minimum grade of C− (60 percent) for the course.

You will be evaluated according to the principles of legislative drafting, including style, research, background / context and grammar / mechanics. Your final grade in the course will be based on the marks achieved for the following activities.

Activity	Weight
Drafting Project 1, Part 1	10%
Drafting Project 1, Part 2	10%
Drafting Project 2, Part 1	10%
Drafting Project 2, Part 2	10%
Drafting Project 3, Part 1	15%
Drafting Project 3, Part 1	15%
Drafting Project 4	30%
Total	100%

Materials

All materials are available online.

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