My aim in this chapter is to analyse how interpersonality, i.e. the way the writers project themselves and their audience in the discourse, plays a role in the way legislative drafting guides and manuals are written. Within the realm of legal discourse, legislative drafting guides and manuals constitute a subgenre of their own. For the purposes of this chapter I distinguish between ‘legislative drafting manuals’, which tend to be exhaustive in covering a wide range of points in considerable detail, and ‘legislative drafting guides’ which tend to be shorter in length and are not usually meant to be as exhaustive in scope. I go on to explore the questions of authorship and of readership in relation to legal drafting guides and manuals. I then examine the interpersonal features to be found in the online booklet 'Plain Language and Legislation' published by the Scottish Government in 2006.
Interpersonality in legislative drafting guides and manuals: the case of the Scottish Government publication Plain Language and Legislation
WILLIAMS, CHRISTOPHER
2014-01-01
Abstract
My aim in this chapter is to analyse how interpersonality, i.e. the way the writers project themselves and their audience in the discourse, plays a role in the way legislative drafting guides and manuals are written. Within the realm of legal discourse, legislative drafting guides and manuals constitute a subgenre of their own. For the purposes of this chapter I distinguish between ‘legislative drafting manuals’, which tend to be exhaustive in covering a wide range of points in considerable detail, and ‘legislative drafting guides’ which tend to be shorter in length and are not usually meant to be as exhaustive in scope. I go on to explore the questions of authorship and of readership in relation to legal drafting guides and manuals. I then examine the interpersonal features to be found in the online booklet 'Plain Language and Legislation' published by the Scottish Government in 2006.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.