Legislative Drafting: IALS Library Guides

Guide last updated by Balqees Khan, September 2025.

This guide aims to give a brief introduction to the Library's holdings on Legislative Drafting. Please consult Library Search for complete information on current titles and locations. If you require further assistance please contact us.

Monday-Friday 9:30-17:00
Tel (0)20 7862 5790
Email ials@sas.ac.uk

This Subject Guide only lists a selection of Library resources on Legislative Drafting. To find additional resources you will need to use Library Search, which covers the complete holdings of the Library. It is possible to search for books, journals and series of law reports by author, title or keyword. You can also search for individual chapters and journal articles.

IALS Library is mainly open access and readers are able to browse the shelves in the main collection. There are two main exceptions to this:

• Older items (marked RES or Depository on the catalogue record) are kept in the closed basement.
• Key texts for LLM students are often kept in the Short Loan collection.

Please request these at the Library Enquiry Desk.

For more information on understanding the catalogue record and further guidance on the location of materials please refer to our guide Classmarks and the Location of Resources in the Library.

The Library classifies textbooks either by jurisdiction (GO13, GA2 etc.) or according to subject area, examples of which include Comparative Law (SB), Public International Law (SG) and Private International Law/ Conflict of Laws (SH). . All classmark sections have a FOL section for oversize volumes, which is located on the same floor of the Library.

When using Library Search for books, please note that only the current edition is held on the open shelves or in the Short Loan collection. IALS has a rich collection of previous editions held in the closed basement and these will display a Depository number on the catalogue. Please request previous editions from the Library Enquiry Desk.

Comparative legislative drafting material is shelved at SB25

Textbooks for Common law countries are shelved at SJ275

European Union textbooks on legislative drafting are shelved at GO1.A1.C.6

The following list represents a selection of textbooks on legislative drafting. Please follow the links to Library Search for further information and location. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below.

Bailey, D., et al.  Bennion, Bailey & Norbury on statutory interpretation.  8th ed. 2020 Lexis

Brazier, A., et al.  Law in the making: influence and change in the legislative process.  1st ed. 2008 Hansard Society

Butt, P., & Castle, R.  Modern legal drafting: a guide to using clearer language.  3rd ed. 2013 CUP

Calnan, R.  Principles of statutory interpretation.  1st ed. 2023 OUP (e-book)

Crabbe, V.  Legislative drafting.  1st ed. 1993 Cavendish

Derlén, M.  Multilingual interpretation of European Union law.  1st ed. 2009 Kluwer Law International

Ekins, R.  Nature of legislative intent.  1st ed. 2013 OUP (e-book)

Goddard, D.  Making laws that work: why laws fail and how we can do better.  1st ed. 2022 Hart (e-book)

Greenberg, D.  Craies on legislation: a practitioners’ guide to the nature, process, effect and interpretation of legislation.  13th ed. 2025 Sweet & Maxwell

Karpen, U., & Xanthaki, H (eds).  Legislation in Europe: a country by country guide.  1st ed. 020 Hart (e-book)

Lowe, D.  Understanding legislation: a practical guide to statutory interpretation.  1st ed. 2018 Hart (e-book)

Morris, C (ed).  Making and changing law in small jurisdictions.  1st ed. 2024 Springer

Mousmouti, M (ed).  Gender sensitive lawmaking in theory and practice.  1st ed. 2024 Routledge

Pennisi, G.  A linguistic insight into legislative drafting: tradition and change in the UK legislation.  1st ed. 2024 Peter Lang

Pozzo, B., & Jacometti, V.  Multilingualism and the harmonisation of European law.  1st ed. 2006 Kluwer Law International

Salembier, P.  Legal and legislative drafting.  3rd ed. 2024 LexisNexis

Seidman, A., et al.  Legislative drafting for democratic social change: a manual for drafters.  2001 Kluwer Law International

Stefanou, C., & Xanthaki, H.  Drafting legislation: a modern approach.  1st ed. 2008 Burlington

Stefanou, C., & Xanthaki, H.  Manual in legislative drafting.  1st ed. 2005 IALS

Thornton, G., & Xanthaki, H.  Thornton's legislative drafting.  6th ed. 2022 Bloomsbury (e-book)

Uhlmann, F., & Hofler, T.  Professional legislative drafters: status, roles, education.  2016 Dike Verlag

Xanthaki, H.  Enhancing legislative drafting in the Commonwealth: a wealth of innovation.  2015 Routledge

Xanthaki, H.  Legislative drafting for the EU: transposition techniques as a roadmap for better legislation and a sustainable EU.  2024 Elgar (e-book)

Zander, M.  The Law-making process.  8th ed. 2020 Hart

IALS Library holds a wide selection of current serial titles on legislative drafting from many different jurisdictions. These are located on all floors of the Library. Titles are available in both print and electronic formats, unless indicated otherwise on the list below. For more detailed help, please refer to the guide on Finding journal articles. The following titles focus particularly on legislative drafting but there may be relevant articles in less specialised journals.

CALC - Loophole

European journal of law reform  e-journal

International and comparative law quarterly  e-journal

Journal of legislative studies  e-journal

Statute law review  e-journal

Theory and practice of legislation  e-journal

If you are interested in legislation or cases concerning legislative drafting issues in specific countries you will need to consult the legislation or law reports for that jurisdiction.

Consult Library Search to find the general classmark for the country you require. Consult consolidations of legislation, digests or indexes to trace particular acts or cases.

Academic users may also use databases like Lexis/Westlaw to find UK, US, EU or international decisions. For further information please refer to Law Databases or ask at the Library Enquiry Desk.

You may also find it useful to refer to our guides on finding Legislation and Cases or check to see if we have a Jurisdiction Research Guide for the country you are interested in.

Eagle-i is an internet portal maintained and updated by IALS library staff. It allows you to search for quality web resources on legislative drafting.

A valuable free source is BAILII, the British and Irish Legal information Institute which is based and maintained at IALS. It provides free access to full text UK judgments and legislation on a wide range of subjects including and also links to other free World Law databases. Jurisdictions covered in these resources include Commonwealth countries e.g. AustLII  (Australia) and CanLII (Canada), France, Germany, Italy, the USA and South Africa.

The following represent a sample of the available quality individual web resources on legislative drafting:

CALC: Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel  Promotes cooperation amongst people in the Commonwealth involved in legislative drafting.

CALC publishes a free online journal ‘Loophole’ with full text articles in Word and PDF formats.

Globalex guide to researching the drafting history of international agreements  (Travaux Préparatoires) by Jonathan Pratter. Updated in 2021

The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel at the Cabinet Office  A group of lawyers who specialise in drafting legislation. Gives access to documents concerning the process of drafting and the work of the department.

Statute Law Review aims to further the study of legislative drafting, statutory interpretation and the process of parliamentary scrutiny. Full text access is available to academic users onsite. Please check Library Search for details of offsite access.