Book Review: Towards Legal Literacy: An Introduction to Law in India. Edited by Kamala Sankaran & Ujjwal Kumar Singh
| Date | 01 July 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2322005817698199 |
| Author | Debarati Chakraborty |
| Published date | 01 July 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
184 Book Reviews
The only minor quibble with this book is that it fails to mention the impact of the US Plain Writing Act
of 20109 in its discussion at page 158 that the role of plain drafting language in legislative is very scant
and does not necessarily reflect the current practice in the USA. This law refers to drafting of subsidiary
legislation (federal regulations) and will be helpful to drafters that are engaged in drafting this genre of
legislative document.
Quite commendable and noteworthy is the author ’s ability to demonstrate the connection and link-
age between the five-step legislative drafting framework and the ‘rule-of-law values’.10 The author
elaborates this at pages 162 and 163 of his book. This is important considering that it is now almost
universal that democracy and rule-of-law values are the underpinnings of every type of legislation that
legislative drafters are instructed to draft and must be so reflected.
Furthermore, the book fails or omits to mention the requirement to provide cost–benefit analysis or
financial estimates as supporting documents when submitting legislative documents to the US Congress
as another major current practice in the US Congress and an evolving global recent trend in legislative
drafting. In the USA, this is a mandatory requirement by virtue of § 402 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974,11 which requires the director of the Congressional Budget Office to prepare a cost estimate for
each bill or resolution that is reported by any House or Senate committee. I do not believe there is any
other requirement for a cost–benefit analysis of federal legislation. Cost–benefit analyses are required
for certain types of federal rulemaking. In the United Kingdom, this has been the practice since the
1198/1999 parliamentary session, while in Nigeria this practice became mandatory by virtue of Order
77(3) of the 2011 Standing Orders of the Senate of the National Assembly.
In conclusion, the author has bequeathed a legacy to the field of legislative drafting drawn from his
half-century of employment at the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate of the Congress of the
United States of America.
I recommend this book unreservedly to all who wish to gain an understanding of the practice of
legislative drafting within the Congress of the United States of America and beyond.
Tonye Clinton Jaja
University of Benin/ National Institute for Legislative Studies
Towards Legal Literacy: An Introduction to Law in India. Edited by Kamala Sankaran & Ujjwal Kumar
Singh, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, India, 2008, Pp. 212, `495, ISBN 0195692225, ISBN
9780195692228
DOI: 10.1177/2322005817698199
Law and rights are often linked together. Law depicts a system of rules followed by a particular country
or community which becomes an agent of social control through imposition of regulations upon the
action of its members, whereas rights are legal or moral entitlement to do something. Every citizen has
the right to know, to be aware and understand the laws existing in a particular system. The law is for all
and legal literacy which is the main idea of the book aims at introducing law which impacts our lives and
is an issue of both rights and social responsibilities. Literacy is beyond being able to write and read.
9 Found on the website of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a group of federal employees from
many different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing: PLAIN, About Us,
available at http://www.plainlanguage.gov/site/about.cfm (last visited 22 July, 2016).
10 Page xxi of the book.
11 Congressional Budget Act, 2 U.S.C. § 653 (1974).
To continue reading
Request your trial