Drafting of Bills and Amendment Bills

Every Act you study began as a few typed pages handed to a Minister by someone whose job was to make the words work. Suppose a Mumbai housing federation wants a law that makes rooftop gardens compulsory in new buildings, and its advocate is asked to prepare the first draft. The draft will be read by legislators, civil servants and, years later, by judges. What must a Bill contain, who can introduce it, and how does a Bill that changes an existing Act differ from one that creates a new law?

In two minutes

A Bill is a proposed law in a fixed form: long title, enacting words, short title and commencement, definitions, operative clauses, repeal and savings, with a statement of objects and reasons; an Amendment Bill works by numbered instructions that insert, substitute or omit words in the parent Act.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing – III on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.