Legislative Drafting Manual

 
Provisos 

Provisos are clauses introduced by "provided, however", "provided that", 
"provided further", and "provided always"; they should be avoided to the 
extent possible. If a drafter uses a proviso, s/he has to comply with the 
requirements set under 3.1.5.4b of the manual.

The word 'provided', when used in a legislative enactment, may create a 
condition, limitation, or exception to the law itself, or it may be used merely 
as a conjunction meaning 'and' or 'before', and as to what sense the word 
was used must be determined from the context of the legislation. Introduce 
an exception or limitation with "except that", "but", or "however" or, better 
yet, simply start a new sentence.

If there are many conditions or exceptions, they should be placed in a 
separate subsection or in a tabulated list at the end of the sentence. 
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53 
The Legislative Sentence  
The simplest legislative sentence consists of a legal subject and a legal action. 
These two parts together constitute the rule. In more complicated forms, the 
legislative sentence also may contain exceptions, conditions and cases. 
a. The Legal Subject

The legal subject identifies the person who is required or permitted to do 
something or prohibited from doing something.

A thing cannot possess a right or be subject to a liability. However, there 
are times when stating the persons who constitute the legal subject would 
require extensive repetition or would result in awkward arrangement. In 
these instances, if the persons are definite, even though by implication, a 
thing as the subject of the sentence may be used. 

The legal subject must be used precisely to be sure that the rule confers 
rights or imposes duties on all of the persons whom the requester intends 
to obligate or benefit, and no others.