Parliamentary Process

	Act - According to Webster's Dictionary, an act is the formal product of a legislative body. A synonym for this would be statute, which is a law enacted by the legislative branch of a government.
	Bill - According to Webster's Dictionary, a bill is a draft of a law presented to a legislature for enactment; also: the law itself.

Therefore, a piece of legislation which has been adopted by the Provisional World Parliament may be

referred to as a bill. For the purposes of discernment, however, in a course wherein the distinction

between the two may be critical, legislative proposals which have not yet been adopted shall be referred

to as "acts". Within the language of any bill, the bill may refer to itself as "this act" or "this legislation",

with the understanding that it is not actually an act until adopted by the Parliament. However, if adopted,

it would become an act, and so it is foresight which demands that the proposal assume the self-referential

terms of "act", "statute" or "legislation", instead of merely "bill", "draft" or "proposal". The latter terms would

become obsolete by the passage of the bill, and are therefore not appropriate. Nevertheless, it is crucial to

bear in mind that the proposal is only that until adopted by the Provisional World Parliament.

It is the students' job here to work together to make such proposals worthy of that Parliament.

One aspect of the drafting of World Legislative Bills, is that their form and structure need to be clear.

So that legislators, jurists, researchers and the public can readily refer to specific portions or items of each Bill,

it is necessary that the Bill have an underlying outline structure. The language needs to be as simple as possible.

However, even more so than in ordinary prose, it is tremendously important that there be as little ambiguity

as possible in the language of the Legislation. Therefore, there may be fewer pronouns used in legislative form.

Consequently, certain referential nouns will be repeated more frequently than they would in ordinary prose.

Since educated persons from around the world will be reviewing any proposal which reaches the floor

of the Provisional World Parliament, it is highly desirable that the grammar, spelling and punctuation of any

proposed Legislative Bill be as free of errors as possible. It is to be understood that there are regional variations

in languages which may be used in the Parliament. As much as possible, the more common usage

of each particular language should be used, if this is clear and unambiguous. During the process of drafting,

it is important to share the draft with colleagues. Change may be required in the content, or in the grammar,

spelling and punctuation. Be receptive to ideas for change. However, if you still feel that something needs

As part of the Graduate School course requirements, students will be expected to learn the entire process

of how World Legislation comes into being. As one activity in this learning process, all students will be required

to participate in some capacity in a Legislative Project. In this project, world problems are studied. From consideration

of the problems, ideas arise regarding possible approaches of response regarding particular world problems.

For such world problems which appear amenable to World Legislative action, proposed legislation can be envisioned

and drafted. Such drafts then require communication with other persons who have an interest in the problem.

These participating stakeholders have grounds to discuss and correspond regarding the merits or defects in the proposed

draft. By working together, a proposal can often be improved such that it may be worthy of submission to the

To learn the proper drafting of World Legislative Bills is a primary purpose of the Legislative Project.

While participating in the project, a student will be reading and making revisions to numerous World Legislative

Bill Proposals. To get a flavor of what this will be like, you may download a sample World Legislative Bill Proposal

which has been tentatively drafted, but which has not yet been submitted to the Provisional World Parliament.

Click here to download

For your first assignment, study this World Legislative Proposal Draft. Compare it to World Legislation

already adopted by the Provisional World Parliament. Check it for conformity to the letter and spirit of

references to provisions of the Earth Constitution, and should also not have any contradictions to it

or incompatibilities with it.) Also, check the downloaded draft for its logic, its humanity, and its

practicality. Do not overlook any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or consistency of style.

Then e-mail your response to me at kea30527@csun.edu. If you are especially brave, and would like

your response to be public, before all the world, then post your response to the HyperNews forum at