A Comparative Review of Legislative Drafting Models in Common Law and Civil Law Systems

Abstract

Purpose: The common law legislative drafting model is aimed at achieving precision and accuracy in a legislative text which is meant to encompass every detail on a subject matter.

Methodology: Contrarily, the civil law drafting system seeks to introduce the main legal concept addressing a social phenomenon, while issues of detail will be regulated by secondary forms of law. In spite of these differences, some scholars of legislative drafting have in recent years been of the view that there is a meeting point between the two drafting models. Until recently, the comparative analysis of legislative drafting models was not given serious attention by legal scholars in comparative analysis. In this connection, while doctrinal legal approach will be employed as a descriptive and analytical review of the topic, comparative approach will be used to examine the various legislative drafting models. The objective of this paper is therefore to compare the common law and civil law legislative drafting models.

Findings: The findings show that while there are clear cut differences between the common law and civil law legislative drafting models. There has also been cross-fertilisation of styles particularly in drafting of international instruments involving drafters from common law and civil law jurisdictions.

Recommendations: This paper therefore recommends the need for legislative drafters in Nigeria to be properly trained with a view to learning the similarities and differences between common law and civil law legislative drafting models.