Legislative Drafting Manual

Legislative Drafting Techniques 
3.1. Structure of Laws
3.1.1. General
A law should be in a solemn and standard form for the sake of easy reference, 
precise interpretation and implem
entation, expedited drafting, etc… So, normally a 
law with a solemn form will have Title, Name of the Enacting Institution, 
Citation(s), Recitals comprising of the Statement of Reasons, Enacting Terms 
divided into various articles and sections, Place & Date of Adoption, and finally 
Signature(s). 
Having the above general points into consideration, a drafter in Ethiopia is highly 
recommended to follow the following guidelines while drafting a law. 
3.1.2. Title 
a. The Title of a law should be short and descriptiv
e. Usually, the “Title” of a 
law should contain the following basic elements:-
i. 
Name of the Enacting Institution;
The enacting institution is usually identified by phrases like “of the Parliament”, “of 
the Council of Ministers”, etc… 
ii. 
Type of the law;
As 
to whether the law is Proclamation, Regulation, Directive, etc… should be 
indicated in the title. 
iii. 
Official serial number;
Usually, official serial of the law should be preceded by the contraction “No.”. 
iv. 
Year of adoption;
www.abyssinialaw.com

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The year of adoption should be indicated in the title in figure following the official 
serial number and preceded by a slash “/”. 
v. 
Brief description of the subject matter of the law.

The “title” should also give a precise, complete, but at the same time a 
succinct description of the subject matter of the law.

Depending on the situation, the subject matter is usually introduced by phrases 
like “Concerning”, “On”, “Fixing”, “Increasing”, “Extending”, “Amending”, etc….

A drafter should always try to balance between two conflicting interests; 
namely, the need for the title to give a clear idea about the content of the law, 
and the need for the title to be as brief as possible. It is not advisable to give 
precise details about the subject matter of the law.