In the 1970s, Legal Drafting awoke from a long sleep as an interdisciplinary, theoretical as well and practical science. The increasing quantity of laws, its deteriorating quality and the lack of its codification became a major problem for both national and European Union bodies. Legislative associations in Switzerland, Spain, Great-Britain, Austria and Germany started to study, teach and apply rules for “good” and “better regulation” as a relevant premise of “good governance”.
In 1991 the “European Association of Legislation” (EAL) was founded in Germany. National associations and individuals became members. Congresses in Liege (1993), Rome (1995), Warszawa (2000), Athens (2002), Bern (2004), Den Haag (2006) and Vienna (2008) were held and the EAL became better known.
Once non – European associations joined the Association (Korea, Thailand, USA, Brasília), it was renamed to “International Association of Legislation” (IAL) at the Vienna meeting (2008). The next congresses were held in Lisbon (2010), Veliky Novgorod (2012), Seoul (2014) and Washington (2016). All the conference proceedings have been published in the publication series “International Association of Legislation (IAL)” with Nomos-Publ., Baden-Baden (Germany).
The raison d’être of the IAL is to promote science, research, teaching and the practical application of rules and good practice in legislation field. It intends to improve the quality of legislation, namely the analysis of norms, organization and procedure of law making. It is important to define goals and means of the legislation while striving for a clean and transparent language and norms technics. Like political and administrative sciences, Legal Drafting applies a multidisciplinary methodology, including (constitutional) law, economy, social psychology, among others. The IAL intends to promote research and teaching not only of the lawmaking processes, yet also of the legislative evaluation technics of norms and draft laws.
The IAL strives for international cooperation. It supports initiatives that promote interaction between students, scholars, professionals and organizations that share an interest in legislation. This includes deputies, drafters, officials of government agencies.
The aims of the IAL are pursued by holding conferences, seminars and lectures to allow an open discussion of the scientific and practical problems of legislators. A special emphasis is given to courses in the legislation field. In addition, the IAL calls upon the members for the publication and circulation of new findings which are important in improving legislation. In most nations, which are represented in the IAL, periodicals give current topical information on the status of the arts of Legal Drafting.
Members of the IAL published during the last years handbooks, which have become significant literature in the Legal Drafting field. E.g. Catherine Bergeal, Rédiger un texte normatif, 6. ed., Paris 2008; Winfried Kluth, Günther Krings, Gesetzgebung, Heidelberg 2014; Helen Xanthaki, Drafting Legislation, Oxford 2014; Ulrich Karpen, Legislation in European Countries, Baden-Baden 1996 (country by country); Ulrich Karpen, Helen Xanthaki, Legislation in Europe, A Comprehensive Guide for Scholars and Practitioners, Oxford 2017.
Last but not least, the Association seeks cooperation with international organizations, like the European Institutions, the Council of Europe and similar national or international associations such as the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) and the International Association of Legal Methodology (IALM).