1 LEGAL WRITING WORKSHOP A ‘Writing Aid’ For Postgraduates Thesis PresentationDr. Mashael A. Alhajeri
2 Citation Guidelines Citing Kuwaiti StatutesKuwaiti Statutes are cited by name, number, and year, eg Civil Code No. 67/1980. For all legal systems under review, statutes are cited by indicating the article number, followed by the abbreviated titles of the code, eg Art. 210 CCF.
3 Citing Kuwaiti Court DecisionsIn Kuwait, case reporting is carried out through the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs’ Journal of Judiciary and the Law [Majalat Al-Qadha’a Wa Al-Kanoon] where selected decisions are published. Also, the Court of Cassation’s Technical Office issues a compilation of principles approved by this court on periodic basis. This compilation is known as the Collection of the Principles Approved by the Court of Cassation [Al-Mabadi’e Al-Kanooniya Alati Kararatha Mahkamat Al-Tamiez], and is now available on CD format as well. However, a sophisticated system of court decision citation is lacking in Kuwait. Law reports, in the strict
4 English sense, are not known to the legal practice in this countryEnglish sense, are not known to the legal practice in this country. Reference to court decisions is usually made by stating the full details of the case. Driven by this shortcoming, I have come up with the following form of citation to facilitate both the tasks of citing decisions,and finding the cited decisions, eg Com app no 307/87 ( ) KCR 193 – the period being the series date, while the number stands for rule’s location in this order: Part.Vol.Rule number.
5 Outlining The suggested outline goes in the order below. Roman numerals indicate major divisions (eg parts of thesis). Uppercase letter indicate sub divisions; Arabic numerals further subdivisions. Heading One II. Heading One III. Heading One A. Heading Two B. Heading Two C. Heading Two
6 1. Heading Three 2. Heading Three a. Heading Four b. Heading Four c. Heading Four (1) Heading Five (2) Heading Five (3) Heading Five (a) Heading Six (b) Heading Six (c) Heading Six
7 Writing Style Writing styles: Chicago style Harvard style MHRA styleFreedom of choice. The magic word -“Consistency”: Adhere to a known writing style with regard to conventions of editorial nature. Recommended writing style : Modern Humanities Research Association, MHRA Style Book: Notes for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses, 5th edn (Leeds: W S Maney & Son Ltd, 1996).
8 Footnotes ConventionsCiting Material in Footnotes (MHRA Style) Book in Arabic: عبد الحي حجازي، النظرية العامة للالتزام وفقاً للقانون الكويتي (الكويت: جامعة الكويت، 1982) . Article in Arabic: منصور مصطفى منصور، "تحديد فكرة العيب الموجب للضمان"، مجلة العلوم القانونية و الاقتصادية، العدد 2، يونيو 1959، ص
9 Book in English: Peter De Cruz, Comparative Law in a Changing World, 2nd edn (London: Cavendish Publishing Ltd, 1999). Article in English: André Tunc, ‘Methodology of the Civil Law’, Tulane Law Review, vol. 15, no. 4, 1976, pp Essay in Book Richard Hyland, ‘Comparative Law’, in A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, ed. by Dennis Patterson (Blackwell Publishers: Oxford, 1996), p. 188.
10 Conference Paper Gerard Honig, Decennial Insurance in France. A Paper Presented to a Joint Meeting of the Society of Construction Law with the Association des Juristes Franco-Brittaniques (London, 21 October 1997), p. 3 Translated Book Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law, trans. by Tony Weir, 3rd edn. (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1998), p. 95.
11 Paper on the World Wide Web:Raphaël Slama, The Post-Construction Liability and Insurance System in France, online:
12 An Approach to Arabic/English TranslationArabic material (statutes, court decisions, doctrine): Official translations: must be used without adaptation Non-official translations: could be used with a rather liberal stylistic adaptation, when necessary. Foreign terms should be immediately followed by their English translation, indicated between brackets. When felt to be essential to the flow of the argument, French legal articles must be translated into English in the footnotes.
13 Recommended Translations of Frequently referred to Legal TextsThe Holy Qur'an: M H Shakir, Translation of the Holy Qur'an, online:
14 A Statute The French Civil Code: Revised Edition as Amended to 1 July 1994, trans. by John H Crabb (Littleton: Rothman & Co/Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers, 1995). The Majalla The Majalla: The Civil Law of Palestine and Tran-Jordan, trans. by C A Hooper (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1933), I: The Majelle. Kuwaiti Statutes: Business Laws of Kuwait, trans. by Nicola H Karam, Arab Business Laws, 4 vols (Deventer: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1987).
15 Free Online Translation:Babel Fish PROMT World Lingo
16 Transliteration Great inconsistency in legal literature as regards transliteration of Arab terms. Recommended: the standard transliteration of non-European words as adopted in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. For simplicity’s sake, diacritics should be abolished wherever possible (accents, bars, dots, etc).
17 Typefaces and ItalicizationUse Times New Roman (size 12 dpi). Latin, French, and Arabic terms should be italicized throughout, and not only upon their first occurrence in the text. No Italicization is applied to full passages of a foreign text; these, as well as other quotations, must be typed in a different typeface, ie Garamond or Courier.
18 EndNotes® Software Generates: Footnotes table of legislationtable of authorities bibliography.