Summary of Contents

1. Legislation: The Whitehall Stage
1.1. The Preparation of Legislation
1.2. Drafting Legislation
1.3. Criticism of the Quality of Drafting
1.4. What to do about the Quality of the Statute Book?
1.5. The 'Good Law' Initiative
1.6. Final Approval before Introduction in Parliament

2. Legislation: The Westminster Stage
2.1. The Legislative Process
2.2. Legislative Committees
2.3. The Role of the Bill Team
2.4. Interaction Between Interested Parties During the Legislative Process
2.5. The Time Taken by Parliamentary Debates
2.6. The Impact on Bills of the Parliamentary Process
2.7. The Composition and Size of the House of Lords
2.8. Publication of Bills in Draft Form
2.9. Carrying-Over Legislation from One Session to Another
2.10. Control of Business
2.11. Control of the Length of Debates
2.12. The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949
2.13. Legislation in Haste
2.14. When does a Statute Come into Force?
2.15. Statutes Online
2.16. The Reach of Legislation and Devolution
2.17. Delegated Legislation
2.18. Rejecting Delegated Legislation
2.19. Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation
2.20. Delegated Legislation: Anglo-American Comparison
2.21. Making Better Law

3. Statutory Interpretation
3.1. Interpretation is a Necessary Aspect of Communication
3.2. The Three Basic So-Called 'Rules' of Statutory Interpretation
3.3. The Three Basic Rules Considered
3.4. Understanding the Context: Statutes and Judicial Decisions
3.5. Understanding the Context: Evidence Beyond Statutes and Judicial Decisions
3.6. Presumptions and Subordinate Principles of Interpretation as an Aid to Construction
3.7. Are the Rules, Principles, Presumptions and Other Guides to Interpretation Binding on the Courts?
3.8. Interpreting Bills of Rights
3.9. What (if any) is the Function of General Statutory Rules on Statutory Interpretation?
3.10. Do Statements of General Principle Assist?
3.11. What is the Court's Proper Function in Interpreting a Statute?

4. Binding Precedent: The Doctrine of Stare Decisis
4.1. The Hierarchy of Courts and the Doctrine of Binding Precedent
4.2. A Comparison with Some Other Countries
4.3. The European Court of Justice
4.4. Devolution Issues

5. How Precedent Works
5.1. Professional Techniques for Using Precedents
5.2. Preparation and Delivery of Judgments
5.3. Are Precedents Law or Only Evidence of the Law?
5.4. The Values Promoted by the System of Precedent
5.5. Flexibility and Stability in the Common Law System

6. Law Reporting
6.1. The History of Law Reporting
6.2. Criticisms of the System
6.3. The Advent of Online Access to Law Reports
6.4. What Decisions are Reported?
6.5. Too Many Unreported Decisions
6.6. Restricting the Citation of Authorities
6.7. The Hierarchy of Reports
6.8. The Form of Law Reports

7. The Nature of the Judicial Role in Law-Making
7.1. The Personal Element in Judicial Law-Making
7.2. The Background of Judges
7.3. The Appointment of Judges
7.3.1. The Lord Chancellor Replaced by a Judicial Appointments
7.4. Do Judges have Biases?
7.5. Should Judges be Activist?
7.6. Can Judges Undertake their Own Researches into the Law?
7.7. What the Law is and What it Ought to be
7.8. The Practical Effect of the Retrospective Impact of Common Law Decisions
7.9. Prospective Overruling as an Aid to Creative Law-Making
7.10. Legal Argument by Non-Parties
7.11. Interaction between the Judge and the Advocate
7.12. The Trend Toward Written Argument
7.13. Interaction between the Judges and their Judicial Assistants
7.14. The Interaction between the Judges
7.15. The Role of the Supreme Court

8. Foreign and Other Sources of Law
8.1. European Union Law
8.2. Scholarly Writings
8.3. Custom
8.4. Quasi-legislation, Codes of Practice, Circulars, Guidance etc

9. The Process of Law Reform
9.1. The History
9.2. The English and Scottish Law Commissions
9.3. The Law Commission – Modern Developments
9.4. Judicial Law-Making in the Light of the Existence of the Law Commission
9.5. The Law Commission and the Codification Project
9.6. The Law Commission and Consultation