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    How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Process
    How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Process
    How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Process
    Ebook200 pages2 hours

    How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Process

    By Bilika H. Simamba

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    This book outlines the way in which legislative proposals in Trinidad and Tobago are conceived and processed. It also contains best practice suggestions on interfacing with Parliamentary Counsel regardless of the jurisdiction in which one is working. Those suggestions are based on the authors well-received earlier publication The Legislative Process: A Handbook for Public Officials (2009). That book was featured significantly in The Parliamentarian: Journal of Commonwealth Parliaments, 2010, Issue 1 XCI. In a review contained in The Loophole: Journal of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (August, 2010), the reviewer wrote, In these times of recession I commend this book to anyone in Government wishing to improve processes to enable the production of legislation with improved efficiency and cost effectiveness. And in the Statute Law Review (April, 2010), 31(2), with reference to its suggestions for improved efficiency, it was said that . . . there is little that can be described as other than good advice here.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateDec 20, 2013
    ISBN9781491844175
    How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Trinidad and Tobago Legislative Process
    Author

    Bilika H. Simamba

    Bilika H. Simamba was trained as a legislative drafter in Britain and Canada. Since then he has drafted legislation full-time for over two decades in four jurisdictions in the British Commonwealth and has also undertaken short-term consultancies. His articles on legislative drafting and in selected areas of substantive law have appeared in leading journals in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Zambia and elsewhere. He has worked as a long-term consultant for the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, fielded to the Caribbean, and on two World Bank technical assistance projects in Africa. Mr. Simamba has also taught legal drafting at the International Development Law Institute in Rome, Italy.

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      Book preview

      How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals - Bilika H. Simamba

      © 2013, 2014 Bilika H. Simamba. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 12/18/2013

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-4422-9 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-4421-2 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-4417-5 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013923062

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

      and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      Cases Cited

      Legislation Cited

      Why Write The Book?

      Preface

      Acknowledgements

      Chapter 1 General Introduction

      1.1 The Meaning Of Law And Related Terms

      1.2 The Expertise To Draft Laws

      1.2.1 The Staffing And Functions Of The Legislative Drafting Department

      1.2.2 The Fair Success Of Efforts To Train And Retain Drafters

      1.3 The Purpose And Structure Of This Book

      Chapter 2 Practices And Procedures

      2.1 Introduction

      2.2 How Ministerial Responsibilities Are Assigned

      2.3 The Dynamics Of Proposing And Drafting A Law

      2.3.1 General

      2.3.2 External Consultants

      2.3.3 Other Aspects Of The Dynamics

      2.3.3.1 A Plea For Understanding

      2.3.3.2 Meetings And Working Groups

      2.3.3.3 Anticipating Questions That May Be Raised In Parliament

      2.3.3.4 Quality Assurance

      2.4 How To Find The Current State Of The Law

      2.4.1 How Annual Volumes Of The Laws Are Prepared

      2.4.2 How Revised Editions Of The Laws Are Prepared

      2.4.3 Tracing New Laws And Amendments Since The Last Revision

      2.5 Initiation Of A Proposed Law Up To Introduction In Parliament

      2.6 Procedure In Parliament

      2.7 Procedure After Passing Of A Bill

      2.8 Certification And Publication Of Laws

      2.9 The Transition From A Bill To An Act

      2.10 Financial Provisions

      2.11 How Parliament Is Called And Dismissed

      2.12 How Parliament, Its Sessions And Sittings Are Numbered

      2.13 Procedures For Statutory Instruments

      Chapter 3 The Law Reform Commission

      3.1 Introduction

      3.2 What The Law Reform Commission Does

      Chapter 4 Entry Into Force And Application Of Laws

      4.1 Introduction

      4.2 Entry Into Force Of Laws

      4.2.1 Entry Into Force Of Acts Passed By Parliament

      4.2.2 Entry Into Force Of Statutory Instruments

      4.2.3 Exercise Of Powers Before Commencement Of Legislation

      4.2.4 Gazettal Of Laws

      4.3 Application Of Laws

      4.3.1 General

      4.3.2 Use Of The Interpretation Act In Applying Laws

      4.4 Savings And Transitional Provisions

      4.5 Retrospective Laws

      4.6 Repeal, Annulment And Non-Revival Of Laws

      4.7 Expiry Of Laws

      Chapter 5 Layout And Structure Of Laws

      5.1 Introduction

      5.2 External Anatomy Of Laws

      5.2.1 Preamble

      5.2.2 Explanatory Note

      5.2.3 Enacting Clause

      5.2.4 Long Title And Short Title

      5.2.5 Headings And Other Labels

      5.2.5.1 Main Headings, Subheadings And Similar Matters

      5.2.5.2 Schedules

      5.2.5.3 Marginal Notes

      5.2.5.4 Forms

      5.2.5.5 Columns And Rows

      5.3 Numbering And Indexing Of Laws

      5.4 Numbering And Layout Of Provisions In A Law

      Annexes

      Annex 1: Guidelines for the Preparation and Submission of Cabinet Notes

      Annex 2: Your Guide to Accessing Legislative Drafting Services

      Annex 3: Extract from the Law Revision Act Chap. 3:03

      Annex 4: Notice of Committee Stage Amendments

      Annex 5: Glossary of Terms

      Further Reading

      DEDICATION

      For

      Ngela Nalumba Simamba

      CASES CITED

      LEGISLATION CITED

      WHY WRITE THE BOOK?

      A government is run within a legal framework. For that reason, it is crucial that legislation is conceived, processed and passed at the required pace. For this to be achieved, all entities involved in the legislative process must play their role effectively. Outside of Parliament and Cabinet, the Legislative Drafting Department is foremost among these. It drafts legislation in accordance with policy instructions received from client institutions. Therefore, it is important that those client institutions interface with the Legislative Drafting Department in a manner that is conducive to the production of legislation that is legally and administratively effective.

      PREFACE

      The giving of instructions to drafters is a skill. It requires the instructing official to be familiar with key aspects of the legislative process. The official needs to be conversant with the legislative practices and procedures within the executive arm of government and, to some degree, Parliament. He must be familiar with issues that arise frequently while giving instructions in areas such as the entry into force and application of legislation. Further, he needs to be well acquainted with certain words and concepts that he will encounter often in his dealings with the drafter and how they are relevant to his proposals and their processing.

      With that in mind, the officials whom I hope to benefit from this book include:

      (a) public officials – such as Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Permanent Secretaries, heads of department and other senior officials – who try to flesh out policies adopted by the government, some of which the officials themselves may have initiated;

      (b) senior officials in quasi-government organizations, especially statutory corporations, who may request amendments to, or review of, their governing statutes;

      (c) law officers in government who advise on the application of legislation and may participate in making legislative proposals;

      (d) Cabinet Ministers and legislators, who scrutinize legislation;

      (e) officials outside government, such as those in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who make legislative proposals;

      (f) journalists who have to report to the general public, clearly and concisely, on matters directly or indirectly related to proposed legislation;

      (g) officials in international organizations who work with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to help it enact legislation arising out of international obligations;

      (h) lawyers outside government who often have opportunities to undertake consultancies drafting laws but lack the necessary knowledge of government legislative processes;

      (i) lawyers learning how to draft laws on the job;

      (j) law students who wish to have nutshell exposure to how the legislative process works;

      (k) students pursuing studies relating to the public service; and

      (l) citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and other persons resident in the country who wish to understand how laws affecting them are made.

      While the contents of the book have been simplified to facilitate practical use by a wide spectrum of users, enough detail has been maintained for the benefit of students and others who may wish to pursue the issues further. This is another in a series of books which began with How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: Cayman Islands Legislative Process (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2012) and continued with How to Make Effective Legislative Proposals: The Jamaican Legislative Process (AuthorHouse, 2013). More extensive discussion of many of the topics covered, as well as other Commonwealth jurisdictions, can be found in my original work, The Legislative Process: A Handbook for Public Officials (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2009), from which much of the content of this book is derived.

      This book has two intertwined components. First, it describes the legislative process in Trinidad and Tobago from the time legislative proposals are conceived to when they are brought into force. Second, it contains information that an instructing officer in any Commonwealth jurisdiction needs in order to effectively play his role. Occasionally, in order to give greater perspective to some of what is said, I have referred to practices in other jurisdictions, but I have kept this to a minimum.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      I would like to thank the many colleagues and friends, too numerous to mention, who have directly or indirectly contributed to this book.

      CHAPTER 1

      GENERAL INTRODUCTION

      1.1 THE MEANING OF LAW AND RELATED TERMS

      The word law has more than one connotation. Section 3(1) of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago provides:

      ‘law includes any enactment, and any Act or statutory instrument of the United Kingdom and before the commencement of this Constitution had effect as part of the law of Trinidad and Tobago, having the force of law and any unwritten rule of law’.

      Needless to say, any legislation passed by a legislative authority in Trinidad and Tobago has the force of law. It is for this reason that the definition uses the word includes rather than means, the intention of the definition being to ensure that the statute laws inherited from the UK at independence as well as so-called judge-made law of both the UK and Trinidad and Tobago, commonly called the

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