Issues of Style

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ISSUES OF STYLE

The Uniform Law Commission has a Committee on Style.1 Its task is

to “revise[ ] as to phraseology and style, but without altering meaning or

content” acts submitted by Drafting Committees.2 The Committee on Style

has a sixty-two-page manual of “Drafting Rules.”3 Each major draft of an

act prepared by a ULC Drafting Committee is reviewed by the Committee

on Style.

We highlight four of the issues of style that arose in drafting the UNCVA.

A. Hyphen or No Hyphen for “Nonparent”

Early drafts of the UNCVA used a hyphen for the word “non-parent.” The

Drafting Committee thought the word was easier to read and understand

when a hyphen is used. The Style Committee said a trend in word usage is

  

“nonparental” without a hyphen.

B. Singular versus Plural for “Best Interest”

Early drafts of the Act referred to “best interests of the child” in the

plural (“interests”)—not the singular (“interest”). The reporter viewed the

plural phrase as a term of art in common usage, while also acknowledging

use of the plural was not universal. The reporter reviewed the nonparental

custody and visitation statutes of the 50 states and found the following:

• “Best interests:” 20 states. See also A.L.I., Principles of the Law

of Family Dissolution § 2.02—“Objectives; Best Interests of the



 

• And, as an illustration of less than consistent legislative drafting,

14 states use both “best interests” and “best interest”—sometimes

in the same statutory section(!).

1. The chair of the Committee on Style is Lee Yaekel. The member of the committee who

served as liaison to the UNCVA was Deborah Behr.

2. “Description” of the Committee on Style from the ULC website, https://www.uniformlaws.



3.

UNIF. L. COMM’N, DRAFTING RULES (2012), https://www.uniformlaws.org/committees/



few years, the ULC plans to revise the Drafting Rules.

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