ABSTRACT
C. K. Allen45 counsels us that the ideal to be aimed at in drafting legislation should be the minimum of words consistent with clearness, explaining themselves, as far as possible, one step at a time without involutions and cross references. It is difficult to lay down any invariable scientific principles for legislative diction. However, he epitomizes certain sensible principles laid down by Montesquieu.46 These are,
1. The style should be both concise and simple: grandiose or rhetorical phrases are merely distracting surplusage.
