Mr. Arthur Stone

This oral history interview features a Senior Legislative Counsel from Ontario discussing their extensive career in legislative drafting and law reform. The interview focuses significantly on their involvement with the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, where they served as Treasurer and later as President in 1982-1983. During their presidency, they introduced important reforms including the creation of a steering committee for agenda management and the establishment of a Legislative Drafting Section that became a formal part of the Conference.

The interviewee provides detailed insights into the challenges of implementing bilingual legislation in Ontario during the 1980s, describing the complex process of establishing French translation services and developing legal terminology that could accurately convey common law concepts in French. They also discuss the evolution of gender-neutral drafting practices, the transition from manual to computerized legislative processes, and the decennial statute revision procedures.

Throughout the discussion, the Legislative Counsel offers critical observations about federal versus provincial drafting standards, noting that provincial governments maintained better control over legislative drafting quality. The interview provides valuable perspectives on the institutional development of legislative drafting in Canada, the coordination between jurisdictions through uniform law initiatives, and the practical challenges of legal modernization during a period of significant constitutional and linguistic change in Canadian law.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.