ABSTRACT How do we determine whether laws are significant and effective? To answer this question, I used data from focus groups and content analysis of laws and newspaper articles to create a model to assess these two factors. In this model, three components of legislative significance are measured: the essence, extent and practicality of the law. The model also assesses legislative effectiveness by measuring three other components: public awareness about the issue, the gap between the intentions of the legislators and the implementation of the law, and the existentiality of the gap. In this study, effectiveness refers to achieving the goal of the legislation and is measured several years past after the date it was enacted. Significance and effectiveness are not separate concepts. They are connected on a time line. The first step in legislation is to understand whether it is significant, which leads to the second step – determining whether it is effective. I tested the model using three Israeli laws from 1987 (the minimum wage law), 1998 (the law against sexual harassment) and 2007 (the provision that outlawed smoking in public places to prevent exposure to second-hand smoke). The results demonstrate that the model is a useful tool for determining whether laws are significant and effective.

中文翻译：

---

确定立法意义和效力的模型

摘要 我们如何确定法律是否重要和有效？为了回答这个问题，我使用焦点小组的数据以及法律和报纸文章的内容分析来创建一个模型来评估这两个因素。在该模型中，衡量立法意义的三个组成部分：法律的本质、范围和实用性。该模型还通过衡量其他三个组成部分来评估立法有效性：公众对该问题的认识、立法者意图与法律实施之间的差距以及差距的存在性。在这项研究中，有效性是指实现立法的目标，是在立法颁布之日起几年后衡量的。重要性和有效性不是独立的概念。它们在时间线上相连。立法的第一步是了解其是否重要，进而引出第二步——确定其是否有效。我使用 1987 年（最低工资法）、1998 年（反性骚扰法）和 2007 年（禁止在公共场所吸烟以防止接触二手烟的规定）的三项以色列法律测试了该模型。结果表明，该模型是确定法律是否重要和有效的有用工具。