Lisbon Public Law Research Centre and the International Association of Legislation (IAL) are pleased to announce the Conference Crystal Clear – The Importance of Clear Legislation for Democracy and the Rule of Law that will take place in Lisbon on 30 May 2025.
Scope and aim of the Call for Papers
There is a rising concern about the complexity of the language used in legislative drafting, and its understandability by common citizens. The increasing complex nature of modern society, on the opposite side, leads to increasingly complex regulation and the use of technical concepts to address technical issues. Answering this concern, the use of plain language in legislative drafting has been in the spotlight for years in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This trend is inspired by several different concerns, namely that the Rule of Law implies i) that everyone should be able to understand their legal rights and duties; and ii) that people who are required to understand legal requirements for their day-to-day professional activities have also the right to be fully aware of their rights and duties.
However, there are some critics on the possibility of using plain language widely, taking into consideration several factors such as that the plain language emphasis on brevity and layperson understanding may sacrifice accuracy for precision, among others.
Finally, one must bear in mind that there has been a discussion on the use of plain language for years, but not much study on how to draft in plain language and how to transform highly technical legal text into more understandable legal texts.
The conference takes the clarity of laws as its focal point.
Topics that authors may wish to explore in relation to “Clarity of laws: fundamental rights, techniques and cutting-edge experiences” include but are not limited to:
- Clear legislation, democracy and the rule of law Fundamental right to understand legislation?
- Fundamental Rights and clear legislation
- Legislative drafting techniques for clearer legislation
- Cutting-edge experiences and clear legislation
- Access to laws and regulations and clarity of language
- Machine readable legislation and clarity
- Use of AI and automation
- Accessibility, vulnerabilities and clear legislation
The legal and regulatory analysis carried can be on a national, comparative, EU or international level. Cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions are welcome.
Abstracts of 500 words should be submitted in Word format to bit.ly/call-crystal-clear by April 15 2025.
Learn more here.
Check the provisional programme here.
Organising Committee & Academic Co-Convenors:
Rui Tavares Lanceiro & João Tiago Silveira