Abstract
The laws made by the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Ministers are almost invariably made in both English and Welsh, and the Government of Wales Act provides that such laws made bilingually ‘are to be treated for all purposes as being of equal standing’. While these laws apply only in relation to Wales, they extend to England and Wales, so that the law of England and Wales now has within it a body of rules expressed bilingually. This development brings with it both challenges and benefits—for those who prepare those laws, for those who deliberate and decide upon them, and for those who have to administer and interpret them. The full implications of this—for legal education and practice, for judicial recruitment, and for the structure of the courts system—have yet to be fully worked out. This article examines the greater linguistic awareness which this new situation requires, the opportunities which it affords to avoid imprecision, and the questions which it poses for approaches to statutory interpretation.
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