Importing textual amendments (quoted text and structures) and adding codes

Inserted text which inserts new provisions into enacted legislation appears within an element called a quoted structure in Lawmaker. Where a string of text less than a whole provision is being inserted or omitted, a quoted text element is used.

When importing a document from Word, any text that is wrapped within double-quote marks and isn’t a definition will be automatically marked-up as either quoted text (text within a sentence), quoted structures (whole provisions) or a combination of both, depending on its structure.

Adding codes to quoted structures to help identify the document type

To help present the quoted structure correctly, Lawmaker stores the type of document being amended and the context as metadata in that element.

By default, all inserted text in a document is assumed to be amending the same type of document you are drafting, i.e. if you are drafting an NI Bill, then the document type for the quoted structure will automatically be stored as an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Some provisions look the same as other provisions but depending on context, are marked up as different elements. An example would be a subsection which looks exactly the same as a schedule sub-paragraph. Lawmaker by default will treat such provisions as body provisions rather than schedule provisions.

The import feature provides a way for you to override this assumption by inserting a code, wrapped in curly braces {} directly before the start quote of the amending text in your Word document.

There are 2 parts to this code:

• Document type code, and

• Provision context code

In most cases you will probably only need to provide the document type code; however in some scenarios explained below, you may also need to help Lawmaker understand what provisions to insert where there could potentially be a few options.

Document type codes

The following table details the codes used for each document type in Lawmaker:

Example document coding

Example when inserted text is to a different document type—

Example where the start quote is inline before the inserted provisions—

Due to the default document type assigned rule, you do not need to specify if you are amending an enacted version of the document you are drafting i.e. you do not need to specify {nia} if you are drafting an NI Bill.

Provision context codes

Lawmaker has to make certain assumptions when it’s not possible to determine the context of a quoted structure by looking at the content alone. For example—

• If the inserted text starts with a provision that looks like a subsection and there are no other provisions within the inserted text that can be used to determine the context of the text, Lawmaker will assume it is a subsection whereas it could have been a schedule sub-paragraph.

• If the inserted text starts with a paragraph and there is no other provision in the inserted text to determine the context, Lawmaker will assume it is a paragraph from inside a section or subsection. In most cases, this is probably correct: however it could be a paragraph in a schedule-derived provision.

• If the inserted text contains an article, regulation or rule and you only provide a secondary legislation document code e.g. {nisr}, {uksi} or {wsi} then Lawmaker will assume the provision is an article.

Therefore, you will need to provide a provision context code within the quoted structure code to help Lawmaker transform the inserted text into the correct provisions.

Provision context codes

The following table details the codes used for each document type in Lawmaker:

Example provision context coding

Example of using a schedule provision context code, with a document code as well:

Example of using a provision context code for secondary legislation:

As part of the import process, Lawmaker will parse these quoted structure codes and if recognised, the resulting quoted structure will be updated accordingly. Lawmaker will strip out the text of these quoted structure codes from your document so that it does not appear in the imported content. If Lawmaker doesn’t recognise the code, a document check warning will appear, letting you know to check the document type and or provisions within the quoted structure and correct if necessary.

• You will need to provide document code even if the inserted text is inserting provisions into the same document type as the one you are drafting i.e. {nia-sch} or {uksi-sch}

• The parsing logic is case and format insensitive so if the auto-formatting converts your quoted structure code into bold, or italics or all caps, the parsing logic will still understand it.