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One Redeeming Quality About The 112th Congress: Refocusing On Descriptive Rather Than Evocative Short Titles, Brian Christopher Jones
One Redeeming Quality About The 112th Congress: Refocusing On Descriptive Rather Than Evocative Short Titles, Brian Christopher Jones
Brian Christopher Jones
For all intents and purposes the 112th Congress has been deemed a massive failure by most; fewer laws enacted and contemptuous debates characterized the session’s most lambasted qualities. However, one redeemable aspect was present: a focus back on descriptive and technical words for short titles, rather than evocative or tendentious terms. When compared to the 111th Congress, the use of evocative words slowed while the use of technical terms increased. This is the first time this has happened since the 101st-102nd Congress (1989-1993). Additionally, it is the largest separation between technical and evocative words since the 103rd Congress (1993-1995). Yet …
Plain Language Prospects In American Public Law: Insiders Weigh In, Brian Christopher Jones
Plain Language Prospects In American Public Law: Insiders Weigh In, Brian Christopher Jones
Brian Christopher Jones
While many international lawmaking jurisdictions have incorporated plain language principles for statutory drafting, the United States remains reluctant, and subsequently has no official policy on employing such principles for the drafting of federal legislation. Though Executive Orders and congressional statutes regarding plain writing have recently been enacted, these have been aimed at Executive Agency regulations and communications, not statutes. This article explores the current prospects of plain language implementation for U.S. statutory law, relying primarily on interviews from Congressional insiders, including lawmakers, staffers and legal/political journalists. Responses demonstrated that plain language standards for statutory law in the U.S. do not …
The Congressional Short Title (R)Evolution: Changing The Face Of America's Public Laws, Brian Christopher Jones
The Congressional Short Title (R)Evolution: Changing The Face Of America's Public Laws, Brian Christopher Jones
Brian Christopher Jones
In order to show how Congressional short titles have evolved throughout the years, a targeted quantitative study was performed on Acts from the 93rd – 111th Congress (1973 – 2011). The results demonstrate that such titles did not merely evolve, but in fact there was a short title revolution in Congress. The major findings from the article indicate that: short title use has become much more popular; Acts on name changing in the US Congress have increased dramatically; average short title word length has increased; the number and prevalence of “personalized” bill titles has increased; the number of short titles …
Manipulating Public Law Favorability: Is It Really This Easy?, Brian Christopher Jones
Manipulating Public Law Favorability: Is It Really This Easy?, Brian Christopher Jones
Brian Christopher Jones
Can favorability for public laws be manipulated merely by changing the short title of the bill or act? Based on an exploratory survey of undergraduate students from the University of Stirling, the results suggest that naming may indeed play a small but significant part of the assessment. Employing five different types of short titles, it was found that “evocative” titles attracted higher favorability ratings than the “descriptive/ technical” titles. Additionally, the survey found that most participants were satisfied with a short vignette of information on the bill or law rather than further explanation, and a notable number of participants supported …