2024 Legislative Drafting Manual

… ects of legislation,” the first being the General Assembly declaring the Court’s 2004 decision in Ev- ans v. State “‘null and void’” and the second being the “establishment of prospective standards for judicial interpretation and applicati …

… ttorney General provided an opinion that the exclusion of an enactment clause did not render a piece of legislation a nullity.30 The opinion noted that, 29 See Senate Rule 20(5) and House Rule 18(b). House Rule 18(b) indicates that super …

… held to be insufficient to effectuate a repeal. In most instances, a general repealer is considered by courts to be a nullity,56 although it might still have some highly specialized uses, such as preventing the court from using expres- sio …

… word or phrase is a term of art or is often used in case law. 89 (b) Do not use redundant couplets, such as “null and void,” “power and authority,” “sole and exclusive.” See the “Avoiding Redundant Couplets” table in Part VI, Ch. 3 …

… yer in the course of employment. (c) Do not use the phrase “means and includes” in a definition. This phrase is a nullity, as “means” is complete and “includes” is partial. (d) Do not use “includes [or including] but is not limited to …

… force and effect among and between made and entered into any and all necessary or desirable authorize and direct null and void authorize and empower order and direct by and with over and above constitute and appoint power and autho …

… n wheresoever hereinabove USE PLAIN ENGLISH Questionable, superfluous, or verbose Use instead absolutely null and void and of no effect void accorded given adequate number of enough adjudged, ordered and decreed adjudged …