Certain abbreviated terms such as “AIB” are used throughout the bill. Nobody objects to those, because the references occur so frequently that the bill would be half as big again if we put them out in full.
Abbreviations are a device to give certainty in situations where there might be uncertainty but, more than anything else, they are a device that has been found useful in dealing with the question of gender-neutral drafting. If we cannot use the words “he”, “she”, “his”, “her” and “him”, it is at times difficult, without a great deal of prolixity, to set out a provision. Many provisions in the 1985 act are straightforward and I have noticed that, in evidence to the committee, people have said that we should go back to the wording of that act. That is fine, except that I cannot do so, because I have to avoid the use of “he” and “she”.
Of course, that can be avoided by simply repeating a word, but it leads to mind-numbing dullness at times if a word is repeated too often. I refer you to section 46(4), which, if rewritten, would read: “Where the creditor neither resides, nor has a place of business, in the United Kingdom, the trustee must, if the trustee knows where the creditor does reside or have a place of business and if no notification has been given to the creditor under section 44(3), write to the creditor informing the creditor that the creditor may submit a claim under this section, and may allow the creditor to submit an informal claim in writing.” It would go on: “The creditor commits an offence unless the creditor shows that the creditor neither knew nor had reason to believe that the statement of claim was false.” We could get into situations like that.
Of course, in other situations, it would actually create uncertainty if we simply repeated the noun. For example, translating section 10(5), it would say: “Where, after a debtor application is made but before the sequestration is awarded, a creditor who concurs in the application withdraws or dies, any other creditor may, if the conditions mentioned in subsection (6) are met, notify AIB that the other creditor concurs in the application.” What does the second occurrence of the phrase “other creditor” mean there? We have just repeated it, but does it mean that he is referring to his other creditor? We could get into some really quite horrible situations just by repeating nouns.
There has been certain confusion. It has been suggested that terms have been introduced for the purposes of the bill as a whole whereas, in fact, they were introduced for the purposes of the particular section that they are in, just as we might say, “Call him Bill and call her Agnes,” and then use those names—they are just labels. However, the drafting is less than ideal, because there are at least two sections where I have not made that point clearly enough. For example, in section 10, I did not point out that “OC” means “other creditor” simply for the purposes of that section. If that were to be retained, the section as a whole would have to be adjusted.
There are other sections where the drafting is less than clear. In sections 69 to 73 there could be some rationalisation to make things clearer.
Perhaps the device of using abbreviations has been used rather too frequently in the bill. I would be content to see it disappear from sections 14(7), 63 and 113 and I certainly would not be offended if it were lost from sections 69 to 73. However, given that a whole lot of parties are involved—the trustee, the new trustee, the trustee’s representative, the AIB, commissioners and debtors—having a precise label adds to the clarity of the provisions, so I would be reluctant to lose the device, although the same thing could be achieved without the ugliness of constant repetition.
I feel that the device has to be defended, because the drafter needs to have different ways of tackling problems. I concede that I probably overused it in the bill and that the bill could be adjusted, but, in most cases, I think that I was correct to use it. If you removed the possibility of using it, other problems would arise.