Mathematical language can leverage legal drafting - Prof. P. W.
Epasinghe
The language of Mathematics can be effectively adapted to suit the
requirements of legislative drafting, says ICTA Chairman and Senior
Presidential Advisor Prof. P. W. Epasinghe.
Himself one of the brightest Mathematicians of Asia, the professor
made the above ground-breaking statement at the Commonwealth Association
of Legislative Counsel 2011 Asian Region Conference held in Colombo
recently.
“I have had the experience of drafting many regulations and bye-laws
at the University where I retired from.
They have stood the test of time in a University environment with a
very active Faculty of Law. The language of Mathematics is generally
well known for clarity and the resulting lack of ambiguity, precision
and brevity.
Mathematicians are trained to carefully look for all the
possibilities, which can arise in a given situation, deal with each of
them and provide for their resolution. The language of Mathematics, I
believe, can be effectively adapted to suit the requirements of
legislative drafting,” he pointed out.
Addressing this conference themed “Drafting in the Asian Region:
Challenges and Possibilities”, organised by the Legal Draftsman
Department of Sri Lanka, the professor said at the outset: “I find the
theme to be very appropriate at a time when Sri Lanka has emerged into
an era where we are moving rapidly towards a knowledge economy, based on
the knowledge hub vision articulated in the “Mahinda Chinthana - ‘Vision
for the Future’”.
Explaining how serious barriers to efficient Government
administration were removed by legislation, the ICTA Chairman said: “In
the deployment and implementation of ICT applications across Government
to improve the efficiency in the delivery of Government services,
significant barriers were perceived in terms of legal recognition of
such activities. To overcome this barrier, Sri Lanka enacted dynamic
legislation as manifested in the Electronic Transactions Act No.19 of
2006”.
“In doing so, the legislative draftsman was successful in adopting
the features of the ‘UN Conference on the Use of Electronic
Communications in International Contracts’.
This has ensured that Sri Lanka’s legislation on Electronic Commerce
is at the forefront in terms of international norms and best practices,
making it easy for us to ratify this conference,” he added.
The Professor expressed ICTA’s readiness to support the members of
the legal profession to adopt ICT to leverage delivery of service to the
public: “In the case of information technology, we at ICTA, stand ready
to support the legislative draftsmen and the luminaries in the judicial
and legal sectors to adopt ICT as a tool so as to give efficiency and
better the quality of the delivery of services, in accordance with the
development policy framework adopted by the Government”. |