Can we provide legislative drafters with tools to simplify and clarify legislation, and make it more accessible? In the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and EU, through strategies such as the ‘Plain Language’ and ‘Good Law’ (PL/GL) initiatives, it is claimed that the answer is ‘yes’. Though many of the normative intentions underlying such initiatives are commendable, we argue that the pursuit of legislative and legal simplicity, clarity, and accessibility ignores the distinctly ‘complicated’ and ‘complex’ role of legislation and legislative drafters. This leads to a range of contradictory and paradoxical outcomes that undermine these goals. Following a review of the role of legislative drafters and PL/GL initiatives, we use a complexity tool, the Stacey Diagram, to demonstrate and visualise the inherent tensions in the PL/GL position. We show how legislative drafters negotiate their complex environment in a much more subtle, human way than is commonly recognised in PL/GL discourse.

中文翻译：

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起草者的舞蹈：起草立法的复杂性以及“简单语言”和“良法”倡议的局限性

我们能否为立法起草者提供工具来简化和澄清立法，并使其更易于使用？在英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和欧盟，通过诸如“普通语言”和“良法”(PL/GL) 倡议等战略，据称答案是“是”。尽管这些举措背后的许多规范意图值得称赞，但我们认为，追求立法和法律的简单性、清晰性和可访问性忽略了立法和立法起草者明显“复杂”和“复杂”的角色。这导致了一系列相互矛盾和自相矛盾的结果，破坏了这些目标。在审查了立法起草者的角色和 PL/GL 倡议之后，我们使用了一个复杂性工具 Stacey Diagram，来展示和可视化 PL/GL 立场中的内在张力。