Drafting Legislation and Rules in Plain English

by Robert J. Martineau and Michael Salerno

Book Overview

Shows students how to draft legislation and rules in a wide variety of jurisdictions. The term "legislation," is broadly interpreted to include constitutional provisions, charters, statutes, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0314890238
• ISBN13: 9780314890238
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: West Publishing Company
• Length: 155 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.4" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

A strong author with practical advice.

The best reason to get this book is that the author has great credentials. He has drafted at the state and city level for over 30 years. That kind of experience, when combined with a commitment to plain language, makes for a valuable and authoritative text. And the book is, indeed, clearly written and thorough. The only drawback is the format--it's somewhat clunky, archaic, and slightly unprofessional in appearance. But if you need guidance on drafting rules and legislation, this is an excellent book that focuses on those skills.

Useful and direct

I found this book very useful. The writing is direct and the advise practical. The stucture of the book also makes it useful as a desktop reference. It is the closest thing to a "Strunk and White for Legislative Drafters".I found two main flaws:1. The cross-references are strangley inocorrect - the author keeps sending us to "see further" in the wrong place.2. The sections referring to specific clauses (definitions, penal clauses, tax clauses, clauses creating an administrative entity etc.) are not substantial enough.However, this is still a book worth owning and reading for anyone who deals with legislative drafting, even for those who (like myself) draft in a language other than English.