Summary of an Act
World Legislative Act #17
To Implement the Commission for Legislative Review
Short title:
Legislative Review
1. Inaugurates Commission for Legislative Review to function on provisional basis. Guides Provisional World Parliament to elect up to twelve of its members to serve on provisional Commission. Requires World Parliament to reconstitute Commission for Legislative Review according to guidelines of Earth Constitution, Article VIII. Sec. H – 2, upon commencement of first operative stage of World Government.
2. Establishes complementary roles of Commission for Legislative Review:
To study form, style and codification scheme of world legislation;
To establish professional form and style guidelines;
To shall establish standard guidelines for numerical codification of all World Legislation;
To amend universally by numerical codification previously enacted world legislation;
To permit adjustment for different language character sets; and
To recommend amendments to previous body of International Law that might be adopted by World Parliament or Provisional World Parliament.
3. Requires Members of World Parliament to abide by form, style and codification regulations of Commission for Legislative Review if drafting bills or other proposals for Parliament. Requires Members of World Parliament to abide by form and style guidelines if motioning for amendments of world legislation or making other parliamentary motions during deliberations. Subjects decisions of Commission for Legislative Review to regulation by World Parliament, by simple majority vote in joint session.
4. Permits initiation of cases to World Court Bench for Constitutional Cases, or to any Provisional District World Court, if Constitutional Bench is not yet functioning, if unconstitutional legislative provision is suspected. Permits publication of world legislation in a labeled recommended form.
5. May compile, codify and publish a list of suggested amendments to Earth Constitution. May include specified judgment of Commission for Legislative Review regarding desirability or feasibility of any respective amendment. May compile pro and con arguments for any suggested amendment. May publish list of recommended amendments from total compilation, and recommend these to World Constituent Assembly.
6. Establishes basic guidelines for legislative drafting:
6.01. Use short sentences if possible. Avoid conjunctions if feasible.
6.02. Avoid synonyms. If synonyms are necessary for apposition, always use parentheses, not commas.
6.03. Avoid acronyms, unless full term is so cumbersome as to perhaps cause confusion in its repetition. Define any acronym in text of bill, before use.
6.04. Use lists if there are more than four items in sentence grouping, or when sentence grouping may otherwise be confusing. Number lists if in the body of the legislation.
6.05. Use active voice, rather than passive voice. Use present tense, if feasible.
6.06. Use neither idioms, nor slang.
6.07. Refrain from legalese if possible. For instance, use Latin terms only when necessary for concise legal clarity. Avoid wordiness (verbiage, fluff), that is, omit words that do not add meaning.
6.08. Avoid constructions that cause ambiguity.
6.09. Remember that «may» grants permission to act, «shall» imposes duty to act, «is» defines, and «will» resolves commitment. «Must» is always joined with a negative, such as «must not» for stating prohibition.
6.10. Use full numeric codification.
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Adopted as World Legislative Act #17 by the Provisional World Parliament convened at Bangkok, Thailand, March 2003, in conformance with Article 19 of the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. Amendments to Articles 2 and 6 adopted August 2004, in Lucknow, India, at eighth session of the provisional World Parliament.
Attested:
Eugenia Almand, JD, Secretary
Provisional World Parliament