Legislative Drafting Guidelines | Legislative Drafting Guidelines | General Principles (1-3)
Guideline 2 Linguistic Aspects (4-8)

Guideline 3

An Act should be concise and its content should be as uniform as possible.

3.1. The characteristic of good legislative style is the succinct expression of the contents of the Act.
3.1.1.
Illustrative clauses, intended to merely explain the text to the reader without stating additional norms or definitions, should be avoided.
3.1.2.
To illustrate general concepts, specific examples can be listed, but it must be made clear that the list is non-exhaustive.
3.1.3. While keeping the main provisions in the body of the Act, it is often preferable to include detailed provisions in a schedule or an implementing measure to be effected through secondary legislation.

Example A

If the intention of the legislator is to prohibit the sale of all food or drink that has minimal nutritional value.

You should not write:

"A school vending machine shall not offer cola or candy, since they have minimal nutritional value.".

You may rather write:

"A school vending machine shall not offer cola, candy, or any other food or drink that has minimal nutritional value."
3.2. The text of the Act should be consistent.
3.2.1. The purpose of the Act must be respected throughout the Act. Rights and obligations must not extend to other fields, going beyond the scope of  the Act.
3.2.2. Rights and obligations must be coherent and not contradictory.
3.2.3. The provisions should be grouped in a coordinated manner with obvious linkage.
3.2.4. An Act that is essentially temporary must not include provisions of a permanent nature.

Commentary

If the purpose of the Act is to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas, it should not contain a provision that creates a tax incentive for purchasers of fuel-efficient cars.
3.3. An Act should also be consistent with other Acts and avoid overlaps with them. A new Act should not raise doubts concerning the applicability of an older Act.

Commentary

If an existing Act gives the President the power to set tariff schedules for the import and export of electronics, and a new Act gives the Minister of Technology the power to set tariff schedules for the import and export of electronics, the new Act should make clear whether the President's power still exists and, if so, what its relationship is to the Minister's power.
3.4. Acts having a higher hierarchical level (in particular, legislation) should have more general and abstract contents, and correspondingly Acts having a lower hierarchical level (in particular, regulations) should have more specific and concrete contents.

Commentary:

If an Act creates a program under which each government mine worker who is injured in a mining accident is entitled to compensation for the injury, it may be appropriate for the details to be set forth in regulations instead.  The regulations could include specific and concrete details, such as who qualifies as a "government mine worker", what qualifies as an "injury" and a "mining accident", how the compensation is to be determined, and when and how it is to be paid.
 
Guideline 2 Linguistic Aspects (4-8)
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