"...the uber-manual of all legislative drafting manuals" Statute Law Review, 2023, 44

If you're involved in drafting or amending legislation in the Commonwealth, the EU or beyond, you need a guide that will help you with both the traditional and modern techniques of drafting good quality statutory law.

Thornton's Legislative Drafting is recognised as the leading professional title in this area, used and referred to by legal officers and drafters internationally.

Completely refreshed and updated, the new sixth edition includes full coverage of contemporary drafting developments and advances.

Fully updated and alongside the detailed, learned and professional guidance and examples of best, and bad, practice, the new 6th edition includes new chapters on:

- Legislation as a Tool for Regulation
- Transposition of EU Legislation
- Pre- and post-legislative scrutiny: the lifecycle of legislation

Thornton's Legislative Drafting helps the reader to:

- Identify the aim of legislation as one of the regulatory tools
- Align their concept of legislative quality with that of effectiveness of legislation
- Use effectiveness as the criterion for resolving drafting dilemmas
- Apply the effectiveness doctrine to all aspects of legislative drafting
- Earn exposure to examples of best and bad practice drawn from a plethora of jurisdictions
- Earn awareness of best practice in aspects of legislative drafting worldwide
- Understand the "why" behind legislative conventions, thus becoming equipped with the tools for their application in practice.

Helen Xanthaki is Professor of Law at University College London, Dean of Postgraduate Laws Programmes, University of London (Worldwide), Senior Research Fellow, Sir William Dale Centre for Legislative Studies, Member, Committee for the Scrutiny of the Law-making Process, Presidency of the Hellenic Government, and President, International Association for Legislation. She is a leading expert in legislation, law-making and legislative quality. She was the first and only Professor of Legislative Drafting in the UK, and served for 18 years at the Sir William Dale Centre for Legislative Studies (most of them as the Director).
She has published extensively in the field of legislation and legislative drafting, recently as the author of The Lifecycle of Legislation (with Maria Mousmouti and Constantin Stefanou), Better Legislation and the EU (with Jurate Vaiciukaite), Thornton's Legislative Drafting (5th edition) and Art and Technology of Rules and Regulations. She has edited collections: Ulrich Karpen and Helen Xanthaki, Legislation in Europe: A Country by Country Handbook for Scholars and Practitioners (2020, Hart Publishers, Oxford), Ulrich Karpen and Helen Xanthaki (eds), Legislation in Europe: A Handbook for Scholars and Practitioners (2017, Hart Publishers, Oxford), and Helen Xanthaki, (ed) Enhancing Legislative Drafting in the Commonwealth: A Wealth of Innovation (2014, Routledge, London).
She has contributed to most journals in the field, including the Theory and Practice of Legislation, Statute Law Review, Hukim Journal on Legislation, European Journal of Law Reform, The Korean Legal Research Institute Journal of Legislation and Evaluation, and Studi parlamentari e di politica costituzionale.
She has offered evidence to the House of Lords, the House of Commons, the European Commission, the European Parliament (Legal Affairs Committee). She has served as a consultant to the European Commission, the European Parliament, governments, the World Bank and many other national, regional, and international fora.