5th Issue of International Journal Legislative Drafting and Reform

The Role of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Legislative Drafting

Abstract

―Who of you that wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense, to see if he has enough to complete it?‖-Luke 14:28-New Word Translation of the Holy Scriptures Although, legislation or legislative action was not the primary focus at the time when Jesus Christ made the above statement, the principle of prior estimation that Jesus Christ laid down in the above statement is applicable to all human endeavour and tasks including legislative drafting. This issue of the International Journal of Legislative Drafting and Law Reform focuses on the growing trend of undertaking cost-benefit analysis as a key component of performance of legislative drafting tasks. Case studies of Spain‘s Criminal laws and Nigeria‘s economic laws are used to illustrate the need for prior cost benefit analysis as a component of legislative drafting. In certain jurisdictions, especially in the developed countries of Europe and North America, there are in existence laws, legislation and Regulation that make it a mandatory legal requirement to submit a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) report as an accompanying supporting document when Bills or Draft laws are submitted to Parliament. For example, since the 1998/1999 Parliamentary Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which requires a Financial Memorandum as an accompanying supporting document. Also, the Canadian Parliamentary Budget Office, which does fully-fledged costings of the financial impact of proposed laws and policies.