The Basics of Writing Statutes Continued

A few trustworthy dictionaries and a killer legal thesaurus are just as important as the right style and grammar resources from the individual legislative drafters' point of view, but far more important to the lawyers, judges, police officers, felons, law abiding citizens, etc., who will rely upon, or be affected by, the law every day of their lives and even into the grave. [More about long, silly sentences later.]

All that being said, I have these dictionaries in my office:

• Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition (1990) -- Speaks for itself.
• Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition (1996) -- Newest not required.
• Websters Popular Illustrated Dictionary (1937) -- Old defintions can come in handy. I like the pictures, too.

My thesaureses of choice are:

• Burton's Legal Thesaurus, 3rd Edition (1999) -- Simply fabulous.
• Roget's II The New Thesaurus (1980) -- Same old, same old, but the old reliable.

Time is money, so I need not tell you why these books are helpful since you already know that. I will have a lot more to say about them, however, when I opine later about statutory construction.

The Basics of Writing Statutes

The beginning Law Writer requires the proper tools at all times, but must have already mastered English grammar. Impeccable grammar is required to adhere to the rules of the language and to understand when and how to break those rules well.

Strunk & White, The Elements of Style, Any Edition, is a MUST. You shall get a copy and read it thoroughly if you want to write "good" law. No ad, just fact. [More on must vs shall later.]

I use the 3rd Edition, myself. Cost $7.95 in 1979. That fact, however, has nothing to do with my age. The "new rules" featured in that edition covered the use of the colon, the use of the dash, agreement of subjects and verbs, and correct pronoun case. Riveting, my dear reader, simply riveting. More tomorrow on the grammatical and style foundations for legislative drafting.

By the way, this is my play time, so do not expect perfect grammar in this blog.