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Department
of the Legal Draftsman |
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History In
the earliest period on record, i.e. prior to 1925, the preparation of
legislation was the responsibility of the Attorney General who functioned
under the Legal Secretary. In 1925, the post of Deputy Solicitor General
was created and the holder of this office was entrusted with the task of
assisting the Attorney General in the drafting of legislation. The post of
Legal Draftsman was created in 1927 in anticipation of the new
Constitution that was proposed by the Donoughmore Commission.
Mr. Arthur Dyer-Ball was appointed to the post so created in August
of that year and continued to function under the Attorney General. The
functions of the Legal Draftsman were described as the drafting of new
Bills and amending legislation, the preparation of statements of objects
and reasons for such Bills, the
revision
of all Proclamations, Notifications, Orders-in-Council, By-Laws,
Rules and Regulations forwarded by the initiating Ministry or relevant
authority,
conducting of interviews with Heads of departments and the
attendance of meetings of the Legislative Council and at Select Committees
of the Council when Bills were being discussed. A
separate department of the Legal Draftsman
was created in 1931 under the Legal Secretary. Today, the
Department functions under the Ministry of Justice. The
holders of the post of Legal Draftsman since 1927 have been the following
– Arthur
Dyer-Ball James
Mervyn Fonseka K.C. Ponnampalam
Cumaraswamy Villavarayan Hugh
Norman Gregory Fernando Asoka
Windra Hemantha Abeysundera Q.C. Percy
de Silva Oswald
Merwyn De Alwis Punyajith
Nandakumar Rodrigo Nalin
Jayantha Abeyesekere P.C. Malwattege
Edmund Walter Peeris Therese
R. Perera Until
about the late 1990’s, the department remained a male dominated one
reflecting the same pattern of male domination in the legal profession.
The first woman to be appointed to the professional cadre was
Ms. Ratna de Soyza in 1973. In
January 2001, history was created with the appointment of Therese R.
Perera, the
Department’s first woman Legal Draftsman in its 70 year history. Today,
in its 35 strong cadre, there are five males. Functions
The main function of the Legal Draftsman's Department is the drafting of principal legislation as well as amendments of existing legislation and drafting and revision of subsidiary legislation in order to facilitate the successful implementation of the Government’s legislative program. The Government’s legislative program is structured so as to successfully implement the policies of the government, which are embodied in the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers. It is therefore the primary duty of the Legal Draftsman's Department to provide the necessary domestic legal infrastructure in order to facilitate such implementation. In terms of the Constitution, the Legal Draftsman's Department is also required in the discharge of its functions, to prepare legislation in both the official languages, i.e. Sinhala and Tamil, as well as in English which is the link language. The Department is also called upon to express opinions with respect to draft legislation and subsidiary legislation and also to co-ordinate with Parliament for the successful enactment of legislation in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution. The Key Functions of the Department as are connected with the function of drafting of the legislation are: - 1. Drafting of Primary Legislation and amending Legislation. 2. Drafting and revising of Subordinate Legislation. 3. Consolidation and Revision of the 12 Volumes of the 1956 Edition of the Ceylon Legislative Enactments. 4. Providing legal opinion in relation to legislation. 5. Discharging Parliamentary Duties connected with legislation. 6. Translation of pre-1972 Legislation into the official languages. 7. Drafting of Statutes for Provincial Councils The unique feature of this Department is that the department has no structured work program of its own. This is because the work program of the Department is of necessity fashioned on the legislative needs of the Ministries of the Government and the various Departments under such Ministries, upon the required policy being approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. The performance record of the Legal Draftsman’s Department is therefore structured on the basis of the requests for primary and amending legislation and amending subsidiary legislation submitted to it by the respective line Ministries throughout any particular year and the successful completion of the same. Every part of the functions of the Department that deals with legislation (whether primary or subsidiary) has to be completed in all three languages before it can be released to the requesting Ministry or Department. The Department is also engaged in a Project for the Consolidation and Revision of all Legislation enacted from 1956 to date. The last official reprint of the Laws was in 1956 when the present 1956 Edition of the Revised Legislative Enactments of Ceylon was printed. This project was embarked upon as the Department has in recent times felt the great need for there to be certainty in the Law. This Project involves the translation of all pre 1972 Laws, as the Legislation prior to this period is only available in English. Satisfactory progress is being made in this area. In carrying out the above functions, the Department has during the year under review (2005) has received 44 requests for drafting of Bills (primary and amending legislation) and 78 Bills were completed along with the 2003/2004 uncompleted requests which have been sent to the relevant ministries. There have also during this period been 76 requests for subordinate legislation and 41 of this were completed. Apart from this, the department has also received 2 draft statutes from Provincial Councils and completed one in all three languages. Also 26 requests for private members’ Bills were received and out of these 24 were completed. During this period 35 Bills prepared by the department were duly passed by Parliament and certified by the Speaker from Feb, 2005 to October 05 are listed below:
i. National Development Bank of Sri Lanka (consequential provision) ii. Banking (amendment) iii. Sri Lanka Railway Authority (Repeal) iv. Civil Procedure Code (amendment) v. Finance vi. Value added Tax (Amendment) vii. Finance (amendment) viii. Inland Revenue (Amendment) ix. Betting and Gaming Levy (Amendment) x. Workmen’s Compensation xi. Societies ordinance (Amendment) xii. Increase of Fines xiii. Sri Lanka Disaster Management xiv. Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) xv. Code of Criminal Procedure (special provisions) xvi. Tsunami Special provisions xvii. Registration of Deaths (Temporary provisions) xviii. Explosives (Amendment) xix. Soumyamoorthi Thondaman Memorial Foundation xx. Tea and Rubber Estates (control of fragmentation) (Amendment) xxi. Code of Criminal procedure (Amendment) xxii. Prisons (Amendment) xxiii. Corporal Punishment (Repeal) xxiv. Finance Leasing (Amendment) xxv. Convention on the Suppression of Terrorists financing xxvi. Udarata Development Authority of Sri Lanka. xxvii. Sri Lanka Transport Board xxviii. Payments and settlement Systems xxix. Evidence (Amendment)
xxx. Convention
on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and xxxi. Kapruka Fund xxxii. Sri Lanka Accreditation Boards for Conformity Assessment. xxxiii. Sports (Amendment) xxxiv. Prevention of Domestic Violence xxxv. Sri Lanka Nurses Council (Amendment)
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