Law Opinion
A national law style: Possible?
Bangladesh has never got a national legal style and citation guide. Legal citation and style is important than any other branch of knowledge, because law always speaks with authority. In our country, the publishers publish law at their own whim, judges are at liberty to give reference in writing their judgments and law schools enjoy full-fledged liberty in following styles of legal referencing. This anomaly creates an unsatisfactory state of affairs. The first casualty of this condition is that our works are not being referred and cited, not being trustworthy. Secondly, if a judge writes judgment in one particular pattern and then its style gets changed in law reporting, it may cause confusion in many cases. Even a judge might have to refer his own judgment from a changed version! Thirdly, learning a particular citation style in their law schools, students receive their first rebuke in the hands of their Seniors going to the Bar for not learning the correct style of legal formatting. This is how law schools doom the students into disappointments! Lastly, the teachers themselves suffer, as because, the reference style, may itself become the cause of rejection of a paper for publication in esteemed journals. Therefore, can we think of a National Law Style Guide? My proposition is not to reach in a conclusion but to foster a debate on the point. I admit that such a guide would not solve every riddles we face, yet, at least it has the following advantages:
i) This certainly would help paving the way to build a legal culture in the country. In a computer age, horse and buggy style of law referencing is really pathetic. The soon we will understand it, better will reap from it.
ii) This will bring a certainty and commonality in legal form and style. Referencing being an inextricable part of legal reporting, drafting and research, commonality in it, will establish a Bangladeshi outlook of law and jurisprudence. This in turn would portray a distinctive feature of our legal system. We have leaned too much to common law legal system (England), throwing all the possibility of having good things in other jurisdictions. Exposure of own commodity (law as commodity) should have its own trademark and brand. Why not?
iii) A national law style will contribute in fine researching. The students and teachers will have a ready made guide to follow while writing papers. This also will shed the burden of law schools to prescribe their own format. It will minimize the option to question the publication quality. As because, a publication in a law school journal other than its own is sometimes seen in a susceptible eye. This will relieve the law schools in one aspect to define the 'recognised journal' paradox as such. However, it is not to say that every law school will have to accept the national law style guide. A law school may have their reservation with logic and reason. It sounds ridiculous that someone will write in a below standard, but follow Harvard, Chicago Style of referencing or the like.
iv) In Bangladesh, it seems that law departments compete with each other without knowing why they should compete or what should be the content of competition. An initiative to formulate a guideline of such type, will bring them closer primarily and to know each others achievements. This will foster further to cooperate in the field of legal knowledge. Same is the case with interactions amongst members of the Bar and Benches. The effort of making the law style guide will bring together the academicians, judges and lawyers in the same table. Legal education in Bangladesh can best be served by a conglomeration of the members of these three platforms.
v) This will further a legal movement in the country. Simplification of legal language, for example, may be the second target of this association. Unless we can free the text of law from the clutches of language, we will not be able to set the rule of law in fine tune.
Once such national guide can be formulated all law schools will love to adopt it, as it would be the outcome of their participation. Then all the publishers and law reporters may start to follow it. Courts, tribunals, law commission and other law entities may also join the procession. Question is: how to go for that? Under the auspicious of Law Commission, a core group taking representation from law schools may be formed. Burden would then be largely vest upon this group, amongst whom three or four will take the lead to author the guide. Once the authors will come up with a draft, this can be discussed and validated by a national workshop. The guide then can take its final shape after compliance of the observations made in the workshop. The authors must be drawn from the three diversified area of Legal Academia, the Bench and the Bar. New Zealand has formulated such a law style guide following roughly this procedure.
A National Law Style at least can forge a legal tradition by influencing the research behavior of a law writer. Should we not go for that?
The writer is PhD Student at Law School of Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.
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