Drafting is the act of writing legal documents. It requires precision and accuracy to represent all relevant statements and issues. A draft is a preliminary document that provides all necessary details about a case. It is prepared by lawyers and later finalized. Good drafting has qualities like conciseness, clarity, completeness, preciseness, and a pleasant tone. It is important to select words carefully and arrange content logically for effective communication. Mastering legal drafting requires clear thinking and practice.

1. DRAFTING

2. Meaning of Drafting
■ It is an art which can be gained only by continuous
practice. In a legal field “The act of writing legal
document is known as Drafting. The main feature
is to represent all the relevant statement and
issue. In the field of litigation, an advocate must
have proper skill and patience for drafting. The
main of drafting is to give accuracy and true
statements.

3. What is Draft
■ It is generally a precise document which gives all the necessary
details about a case. It is called a rough document which is
prepared by lawyers and after that a final touch needs to prepare
the draft.
■ There are 2 terminologies while preparing a draft
1. Draftsman – He is a person who makes the documents like sales
deed, mortgage deed, etc.
2. Dragoman - He is a person who translate the whole summary of
the judgement

4. Purpose of Drafting
■ The basic purpose of Drafting is to provide ideas and
proper information. Its main aim is to provide clear
and concise data which can be easily understood by
the clients and can satisfy the wants of them. An
advocate must never forget that there is a objective
or motive behind every text.

5. Importance of Legal Document
■ In a law field drafting is one of the integral part which an advocate
must know and he should be an expert in making a draft. We
cannot expect everyone to be perfect in drafting but the more and
more practice gives more and more knowledge to them. Firstly
everyone should understand the law and facts about the case.
■ As we see that young generation is now suffering from poor
drafting and this is because of lack of training given in the colleges.
Many senior advocates gave training to the junior so that they can
learn to draft in a well mannered way and can know about the
basic principles of drafting.

6. Qualities of Good Drafting
1. Conciseness – A good draft should be in a concise form. The concise form
means the material facts and necessary words should be used and a good
draft or writing should avoid inclusion or unnecessary and immaterial
statement which is in no way is in relation to the subject matter. Draft should
be to the point and as far as possible vagueness should be avoided otherwise
the draft will be unnecessarily lengthy. A good draft, should contain only
essential facts and appropriate words and phrases. The lengthy drafts/
writings also does not give a good impression to the reader.
2. Clarity – There should be absolute clarity in writing so that the reader is able to
understand its content without stress or strain. The language used should be
such so as to enable the reader to understand easily. As far as possible simple
words should be used which will avoid any confusion in the mind of the reader.
A good writing should contain various paragraphs for expressing various ideas
or subject matter. It will avoid mixing of different ideas and matter.

7. 3. Completeness – A writing should be free from all deficiencies in
order to ensure the completeness about the matter on which it is
intended. A good writing should contain all the essential information
and it should answer all the possible questions which may struck to
the mind of the reader. It means nothing material related to the
subject matter be left out.
4. Preciseness – Precision is another important factor of a good
writing. The facts contained should be accurate and there should be
no ambiguity. There should be a perfection in the statements made.
The writing should be free from grammatical, spelling and
punctuation mistakes.
5. Pleasant Accent – It is an art of good writing to create an
impression on its reader by using courteous and polite words. A good
writing should reflect all the desired courtesy, of course having regard
that to whom it is addressed. Politeness plays a good role in writing.

8. Salient Features of Good Drafting
1. Selection of Correct words – The selection of right word at the right place is
the golden rule of good writing. The words used should be such as to convey
the real meaning of the writer to the reader. Therefore one has to be very
careful in using the correct and right words for the convenience of reader in
understanding the contents, words should always be used in the same sense.
The choice of right words is also necessary in order to make the meaning
clear not only to the reader but to the writer himself. Familiar words with
precise meaning should be preferably used. Words should be used only to the
extent that are necessary to express the meaning and no more words should
be used. Use of superfluous adjectives be not made. Strong words like urgent,
crisis, essential should be used only when they are really needed or else the
words will lose their force if used frequently. A document should be so worded
as to convey the clear meaning to any person who has knowledge of the
subject matter. Use of long and uncommon words be avoided instead short
and simple words be employed in the construction of sentences.

9. 2. Courtesy and Politeness – It is an important and significant
ingredient of a good drafting. The utility of due courtesy and politeness
in writing goes without saying pay its dividend. The reader is delighted
to read and usually gives prompt response. Thus by observing
politeness in writing the reader achieves its objective of receiving
prompt reply. A draftsman must possess the skill of using polite
language.
3. Clear and Firm Thinking – The writer should have clear thinking
about the subject matter that he is going to write. In absence of clear
thought the writer will not be able to express himself with clarity and
the document in question will create a confusing situation to the
reader. Clear thinking will result in the systematic arrangement of the
subject matter in a draft. Clear thinking often takes time but that is
fruitful rather than making a mass of subject and its content. Therefore
it is pertinent to mention that lucidity in drafting is an important factor

10. 4. Logical Arrangement – A good draft should contain logical arrangement meaning
thereby that statement should be so arranged in chronological order that the reader is
able to understand the subject-matter properly without being trapped into any confusion.
This is an art of writing and describing the subject in an orderly manner. There should be
consistency in writing to create a good impact on its reader. A logical arrangement
obviates the chance of omission or repetition.
5. Short Sentence – Simple and short sentence be used which must be complete and
accurate. Use of long sentence should be avoided.
6. Each page should be numbered
7. Starting text should be in roman numbers and the main text in Arabics
8. The sheets should be tied jointly
9. No facts should be deleted
10. Avoid negative statements
11. Before presenting a draft it should be read one or two times
12. Make a frame
13. There must be a motive

12. Conclusion
■ Therefore it can be concluded that drafting is an
art which should be known by every writer. An
advocate should always keep in mind that the
language used should be precise and simple which
can be easily understood by the clients or any
other person. The words used should be actionable
so that the judges can easily be convinced.