Drafting Legislation and Rules in Plain English (Hornbooks (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Useful and direct
Review: I found this book very useful. The writing is direct and the advise practical. The stucture of the book also makes it useful as a desktop reference. It is the closest thing to a "Strunk and White for Legislative Drafters".

I found two main flaws:

1. The cross-references are strangley inocorrect - the author keeps sending us to "see further" in the wrong place.

2. The sections referring to specific clauses (definitions, penal clauses, tax clauses, clauses creating an administrative entity etc.) are not substantial enough.

However, this is still a book worth owning and reading for anyone who deals with legislative drafting, even for those who (like myself) draft in a language other than English.

Rating:
Summary: A strong author with practical advice.
Review: The best reason to get this book is that the author has great credentials. He has drafted at the state and city level for over 30 years. That kind of experience, when combined with a commitment to plain language, makes for a valuable and authoritative text. And the book is, indeed, clearly written and thorough. The only drawback is the format--it's somewhat clunky, archaic, and slightly unprofessional in appearance. But if you need guidance on drafting rules and legislation, this is an excellent book that focuses on those skills.

Rating:
Summary: Too simplistic
Review: This is another example of a person who has no experience drafting legislation presuming to tell the professionals who do that kind of writing how to perform their difficult task. Most such intruders into the field, including Martineau, base their recommendations on Plain Language principles. Martineau clearly reveals his lack of knowledge of statutory drafting and the havoc that is caused by mechanistically applying the allegedly universal but actually simplistic and counter-productive princples of Plain Language to this form of writing. If you are looking for useful advice about drafting, read something by a professional who has thought about the subject.