Legislative Drafting Manual

EXAMPLE:-Article 190 of Labor Proclamation No 377/2003 (Repealing 
Clause) should have come before Article-188 (Transitional Clause).
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3.1.5.2. Short-Title
a. 
“Short-title” is a title to be given for a law for the sake of convenient 
reference or citation. So, short-title should be by nature short, accurate, 
and unique.
b. One rule of short-title is to avoid adding the year of adoption in it as it does 
not add anything to identify the law. The exception to this rule is in case of 
a successor law, we need to add the year in the short-title as it will help to 
distinguish it from the previous law.
c. Usually, short-
titles are drafted by using the expression “….may be known 
and cited as…” or “…shall be known and may be cited as…” However, in 
both phrases, the phrase “shall be known” or “may be known” does not add 
anything to the title, and thus a drafter is advised to avoid using it.
d. In Ethiopian drafting style, one can not distinguish between the Title of a 
law and the Short-title of same law; they are always one and the same. In 
view of the above nature of Short-title, one can conclude that Short-title in 
Ethiopian law does not have any purpose at all since the Title itself can 
replace it. So, to change this unnecessary trend and to give Short-title its 
meaningful purpose, then it is hereby recommended to use Short-title by 
omitting Serial Number, Year of Adoption, and the name of the Enacting 
Institution as follows:
EXAMPLES (1) For the Title “Investment Incentives and Investment 
Areas  Reserved for Domestic Investors Council of 
Ministers Regulations No. 84
/2003”, its title can be shortened as:- 
“Investment Incentives Regulation”
(2) For the Title