CECILIA MUTAVA- 19ZAD104261 Learning Log – Legislative Drafting

For each of the weeks, use not less than 250 words per row and outline your work
during the week. Be as detailed as you can be, include your struggles and highlights
of the week, your experience with group work as well as anything you would like
added to the curriculum that you think would be beneficial to you and your
classmates. Please note that these logs will account for 10% of your final grade.

Week One
Knowledge
This was the introductory class of this unit. I learnt the meaning of legislative drafting
which is means the construction of a piece of legislation. For some reason I thought
this class would be similar to Civil Procedure, because in the latter we did a lot of
legal drafting. Turns out the 2 are quite the opposite.
I finally understood what it meant when a member of Parliament proposed a bill.I
always thought they would draft it themselves and present it to Parliament.
I also came to discover that Legislative Drafting is a promising career path because
there are not many legislative drafters in the country.

I was quite intrigued that a Legislative Drafter does not own any patent to any piece
of legislation that they create, despite the time and effort that is taken to prepare one.
I mean as a human, I would like to be credited for my work. Even just a little bit.

The class taught me the 5 stages of Legislative Drafting according to Garth Thornton
who is alias the father of legislative drafting.
Additional Knowledge
I read the online book Legislative Drafting M. S. RAMA RAO B.Sc., M.A., M.L
which is a compilation of Class-room live lectures.
The book uses the term ‘ Nomography’ as the name given to the subject that deals
with the drafting of laws. It is, in other words, Legislative Drafting in a broad sense.
The primary task of the drafter
is to achieve beauty and utility, which is the goal of Legislative Drafting or to find
balance between the two.

This book really emphasizes on the creative part of Legislative Drafting. The drafter
should establish their feel of good drafting, just like an artist who chooses a color or a
musician who strikes at a certain tone. Although drafting is a skill and an art, their
legal knowledge demonstrates intelligence, recall, and judgment.

Upon checking other online sources , I realized that communication and good
grammar is key in legislative draft information. One has to use punctuation marks
properly and ensure that the message being put across can be understood and

ALU School of Wildlife Conservation 2019/20 Term 1 - Page 1

CECILIA MUTAVA- 19ZAD104261 Learning Log – Legislative Drafting

interpreted by the lay man.

Ayes& Nays. Co.ke is a parliament and legislative drafting blog from which I learnt
that in the event an error is made in law, rectification is the solution. Errata and
corrigendum are terms used in the publishing industry; however errata is typically
used more frequently. The publisher will use this document to point out mistakes in
the work that was going to be printed or published.
If there are formal errors (be they clerical or printing) on our laws, the Attorney
General under Section 13 of the Revision of the Laws Act (Cap. 1) will publish a
rectification order under the Revision of Laws Act.

Learning Journey
I am excited to be taking this unit, looking forward to sync my creative and legal
skills.

ALU School of Wildlife Conservation 2019/20 Term 1 - Page 2