I am very happy to have been asked to write an EDITORIAL for the Volume 10 of the International Journal of Legislative Drafting and Law Reform.

I must admit that I am guilty (aren’t all lawyers?) of this but wasnot aware of thisuntil the publication of this Special Issue of this journal.

While we all borrow tosome extent, (thatis what International Best Practices is, isn’t it?) the drafter must not cut and paste. In one situation I was asked to review a law which was borrowed from a neighbouring country but didn’t bother changing the currency of the fines nor realise there was no comparable institution to perform the functions in the country in question and that it was not just a question of substituting Country X for Country Y.