Why Plagiarism Is Important in Drafting Regulations

Not only is plagiarism allowed in regulatory and legislative drafting, but also it is strongly necessary. Why? For the simple reason that we want consistency in the drafting of statutes and regulations.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, “plagiarism” is defined as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” Is plagiarism a crime? Plagiarism is essentially theft and fraud committed simultaneously. It is considered theft because the writer takes ideas from a source without giving proper credit to the author. It is considered fraud because the writer represents the ideas as her or his own.

However, drafters of regulations often repeat the mantra that “plagiarism is allowed in drafting.” In fact, regulatory drafters, like their legislative drafter counterparts, encourage it so that regulatory language is used throughout a state’s body of regulations. Consistency, and clarity, are critically important aspects of drafting regulations. As a result, using the same language in similar regulations serves a valuable purpose.

That is because provisions of regulations that are similar in substance should be similarly written and arranged. The general view is that parallel structure improves accessibility and promotes consistency. Moreover, consistent use of terminology is critical to drafting regulations well. Consistency often times requires being repetitive with language, such as using the same word rather than another, similar one.

Varying regulatory language is not a good approach because interpretation problems will often result. As a result, consistency in regulatory language is necessary. The regulated community, courts, and the general public expect words and meanings of regulations to be used consistently. Because the courts read laws in the context of other laws as well, if other laws give a certain term a different meaning, it will create interpretation problems.

Consistency also requires that different words should not be used with the same meaning. Likewise, statutes should not use the same word with different meanings. Fundamentally, maintaining consistency will help reduce ambiguity in regulatory language. As a result, plagiarism is completely acceptable and, in fact, required to ensure consistency occurs in California laws.