The Role of an Explanatory Note in Legislative Process

Abstract

In the paper the author attempts to explore and determine peculiarities and constitutional features, drafting practice, as well as the role and importance of such an instrument as an explanatory note to a draft law in the system of constitutional law of Russia and a number of foreign countries. The relevance of the chosen theme is determined by many factors, but above all, by an active pursuit of the right to legislative initiative with regard to the powers exercised by the subjects, which leads to drafting a great number of new laws. However, such a rapid and aggressive pace of lawmaking where a state is trying by all means with the assistance of the legal regulation mechanisms to consolidate the increasingly wide range of public relations, noticeably affects the quality and effectiveness of legislative novels. Also, examination of legal issues and practical problems associated with regulation of drafting (a structure and content) an explanatory note is relevant because existing legislation contains no rules governing the process of drawing up this document; in addition, in the domestic doctrine of constitutional law in Russia the object of this paper has not been sufficiently researched yet. The article is prepared on the basis of an analysis of existing regulatory legal acts, modern law literature and jurisprudence using methods of scientific knowledge applied by the legal science, in particular a comparative law method that has allowed to reveal different approaches to the legal regime of an explanatory note in the domestic legislation, as well as some foreign countries (Australia, Belarus, the United Kingdom and Canada).