Evaluating the Effects: A Contribution to the Quality of Legislation

During the last three decades, legislation has become an important field of scientific interest and practical training. At least in the German speaking countries, Peter Noll was one of the pioneers of a new, comprehensive approach to legislation. It is an approach which has been widely adopted in an effort to improve the quality of legislation. Neither has it been limited to legal science for it concerns a wide range of academic disciplines interested in various aspects of the legislative activity. Nor does it solely have an academic focus, for it encompasses practical considerations. Legislative problems are, to some extent, universal problems; they should be dealt with in a multidisciplinary way, and they have a practical as well as a theoretical dimension. The term ‘‘legisprudence’’ that is sometimes used to describe these different elements and to stress the links between the different aspects of modern legislative studies expresses in a very appropriate way the character of this new, comprehensive approach. Legisprudence aims at furthering the theoretical understanding as well as the technical handling of legislation; it combines elements of science, art and craftsmanship; it concerns both the content of legislation and its form. Within legisprudence various particular areas of interest may be distinguished: