Aims and scope
The Theory and Practice of Legislation ( TPLeg) aims to offer an international and interdisciplinary forum for the examination of legislation. The main aim of the journal is to be the major international journal in the legal field dedicated to the theory, philosophy and practice of legislation (often referred to as "legislation studies," "legislative studies," "science of legislation," "legisprudence" or “nomography”). Indeed, TPLeg has been the highest ranked legislation journal in the world in the past three years, according to both Scopus and Scimago rankings of legal journals in 2023. At the same time, TPLeg also aims to be an interdisciplinary journal, and publishes high-quality articles by scholars in additional relevant disciplines, such as legislative studies and political science, public policy, regulation, governance, economics etc.
The scope of the journal covers legislation in its broadest sense. Legislation is seen as both process and product, reflection of theoretical assumptions and a skill. This broad definition includes a broad spectrum of scholarship from the highly theoretical philosophical discussions of legislation to the highly practical scholarship, such as scholarship directed at instructing legislative drafters. It also covers both formal legislation and alternative forms of regulation, such as co-regulation, regulation by non-state actors, guidance, codes and directions from governments etc.
Some examples of possible issues include drafting techniques; the introduction of open standards; evidence-based drafting and lawmaking; judicial review of legislation and legislative processes; pre- and post-legislative scrutiny for effectiveness and efficiency; the utility and necessity of codification; information technology, artificial intelligence and data science & legislation; the legitimacy of legislation in view of fundamental principles and rights; law and language; and the link between legislator and judge. Theoretical, comparative, empirical or interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged.
The focus is on legislation as a subject in its own right, rather than substantive areas of law that are covered by legislation. For example, we are interested in articles on how or why the law of evidence is codified into legislation, rather than the content of the legislation on evidence. Therefore, blackletter descriptions of positive law are outside the scope of the journal.
The editors are mainly interested in articles that are relevant for an international audience. Generally, an article that merely analyzes a certain area of legislation in a single country would be out of scope of this journal unless it raises points that are relevant to multiple jurisdictions. Articles that concentrate on legislative issues within a single jurisdiction would be considered only if they are relevant for other jurisdictions as well, for example as a point of reference for comparative research if similar developments have been noticed in other jurisdictions, if the article reveals general and theoretical insights that also apply to other jurisdictions, or if an innovative method of research is developed that can also be used for legislative scholarship in other jurisdictions.
The journal offers a combination of themed issues and general issues.
All articles are submitted to double anonymized review.
Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.
Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.
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