PLAIN ENGLISH AND THE LAW Plain English and the Law: The 1987 Report Republished GPO Box 4637 Melbourne Victoria 3001 Australia Level 3 333 Queen Street Melbourne REFORM COMMISSION VICTORIAN LAW Victoria 3000 Australia Telephone +61 3 8608 7800 Freecall 1300 666 555 (within Victoria) Fax +61 3 8608 7888 Email [email protected] www.lawreform.vic.gov.au VLRC_PlainEnglish_DualCover_OUTER.indd 1 20/12/17 2:29 pm PLAIN ENGLISH AND THE LAW PLAIN ENGLISH AND THE LAW Plain English and the Law: The 1987 Report Republished Plain English GPO Box 4637 Melbourne Victoria 3001 and the Law Australia Level 3 THE 1987 REPORT REPUBLISHED 333 Queen Street With a new preface by the Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission Melbourne Victoria 3000 REFORM COMMISSION VICTORIAN LAW Australia Telephone +61 3 8608 7800 Freecall 1300 666 555 (within Victoria) Fax +61 3 8608 7888 Email [email protected] www.lawreform.vic.gov.au VLRC_PlainEnglish_DualCover_INNER.indd 1 28/11/17 11:36 am Published by the Victorian Law Reform Commission CHAIR The Hon. Philip Cummins AM The Victorian Law Reform Commission was established under the Victorian Law Reform Commission Act 2000 COMMISSIONERS as a central agency for developing law reform in Victoria. Liana Buchanan Helen Fatouros © Victorian Law Reform Commission 2017. Bruce Gardner PSM Plain English and the Law: The 1987 Report Republished Dr Ian Hardingham QC with a New Preface/Victorian Law Reform Commission His Honour David Jones AM Alison O’Brien ISBN: 978-0-9943724-4-4 Gemma Varley PSM Plain English and the Law was originally published in 1987 The Hon. Frank Vincent AO QC as report No. 9 of the Law Reform Commission of Victoria, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER a predecessor organisation of the Victorian Law Reform Merrin Mason Commission. COVER DESIGN Letterbox TEXT LAYOUT GH2 design VLRC_PlainEnglish_DualCover_INNER.indd 2 28/11/17 11:36 am Plain English and the Law THE 1987 REPORT REPUBLISHED With a new preface by the Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission Victorian Law Level 3 Telephone Email Reform Commission 333 Queen Street +61 3 8608 7800 [email protected] GPO Box 4637 Melbourne Freecall www.lawreform.vic.gov.au Melbourne Victoria 3000 1300 666 555 Victoria 3001 Australia (within Victoria) Australia Fax DX 144, Melbourne +61 3 8608 7888 VLRC_PlainEnglish_TitlePage.indd 1 27/11/17 3:37 pm Law Reform Commission of Victoria Plain English and the Law: the 1987 Report Republished The Commission For the purposes of the reference, the Chairperson, in accordance with s12 of the Law Reform Commission Act 1984, created a Division comprising the following members of the Commission: The Division David St L Kelly (Chairman) Professor Robert Eagleson (Commissioner in charge until 31/12/1986) The Hon. Mr Justice James Gobbo Mr Leigh Masel Professor Marcia Neave Mr Tony Smith Ms Jude Wallace Officers of the Commission Executive Director Mr Andrew Phillips Project team Mr Robert Smith Mrs Loane Skene Mr Josef Szwarc Ms Nerida Wallace Mrs Sandy Ward (Reference Secretary) Secretary Ms Robin Jackson Librarian Ms Beth Wilson Consultants The Hon. Michael Arnold MLC Mr Ben Bodna, Public Advocate Mr Robin Brett Mr David Burridge, Gledhill Burridge & Cathro Mr Bruce Cameron, Gledhill Burridge & Cathro Mr Michael Crennan Mr Philip Cummins QC Mr Mark Dreyfus, then Ministerial Adviser to the Attorney-General Mr John Ewens CMG CBE QC, former First Parliamentary Counsel of the Commonwealth Professor Harold Ford, Chairman, Companies & Securities Law Review Committee Ms Eve Grimm, the Law Institute Mr Peter Ickeringill, Mallesons Stephen Jaques Mr Campbell Johnston, Blake & Riggall Dr Greg Lyons, Chief Electoral Officer Mr Peter Marks, McIntosh Hamson Hoare Govett Ltd Mr Robert Miller, Director, Regulation Review Unit Mr Eamonn Moran, Assistant Chief Parliamentary Counsel Mr Ian Renard, Arthur Robinson and Hedderwicks Dr Robert Smith, Member, Public Service Board The Hon. Haddon Storey MLC Ms Kathy Walter, Clayton Utz ii Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................vi Terms of reference ..................................................................................................................viii Summary ..................................................................................................................................ix Recommendations .....................................................................................................................x 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................2 Reference ..........................................................................................................................2 Work on the reference ....................................................................................................2 Secondment of Professor Eagleson .................................................................................2 Discussion paper ............................................................................................................3 Other developments ........................................................................................................3 Commonwealth initiatives ..............................................................................................3 Statements in state parliaments ......................................................................................3 Recent endorsements .....................................................................................................4 Structure of report .........................................................................................................5 Appendices to report .....................................................................................................5 Context of criticisms .......................................................................................................6 2. Legal language ......................................................................................................................8 Criticisms of legal language ............................................................................................8 General ..........................................................................................................................8 Legislation .....................................................................................................................8 Private legal documents ................................................................................................9 Nature of the problem ...................................................................................................9 A separate language .....................................................................................................9 A legislative example ......................................................................................................9 A non-legislative example ........................................................................................... 10 Causes of the problem .................................................................................................. 11 A mixture of languages ............................................................................................... 11 The supremacy of Parliament in law-making................................................................. 12 Calculation of fees ...................................................................................................... 13 The common law ........................................................................................................ 14 Professional pressures ................................................................................................. 15 iii Law Reform Commission of Victoria Plain English and the Law: the 1987 Report Republished 3. Survey of legislation ...........................................................................................................18 Language problems .......................................................................................................18 Length of sentences ..................................................................................................... 18 Unnecessary concepts ..................................................................................................20 Absence of underlying principle ...................................................................................23 Organisation problems ..................................................................................................26 Within a single section .................................................................................................26 Within an Act as a whole .............................................................................................28 4. Plain English and objections to it in the law ....................................................................32 Nature of plain English ..................................................................................................32 Objections to plain English in legal drafting ...............................................................32 a. ‘Plain English involves a debasement of the language’. .............................................32 b. ‘Plain English is incompatible with precision’. ............................................................33