Editorial Update/Lists
Drafting Guidance: Lists of Definitions
| Note: drafters often say to insert a new definition at “the appropriate place” within an existing list. When you carry out the insertion, remember to take into account any punctuation and conjunctions in the list.
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OPC Drafting Guidance relating to ordering of lists of definitions:
“Ordering of definitions
4.1.24 In most cases definitions should be listed alphabetically, with numbers coming first. When determining the alphabetical order ignore “the” (eg in “the regulator”).
4.1.25 It some cases, however, it may make sense to list the definitions in conceptual order (for example, where each definition builds on a previous one).
4.1.26 In a list of definitions, each entry should end with a semicolon. There should be no conjunction.”
and
“In a list
6.3.9 Where an amendment is made to insert an entry into a list, such as a list of definitions or statutory bodies, it is sometimes framed as an amendment to insert the text “at the appropriate place” (instead of “after” something). This is appropriate where, for example, a list runs in alphabetical order.”
GLP SI Drafting Guidance relating to ordering of lists of definitions:
“Drafting lists of definitions
6.5.89. A list of definitions usually takes the form “In [these Regulations]—“, followed by a list in which the definitions are presented in unnumbered definition paragraphs.
6.5.90. When drafting a list of definitions, normal drafting practice is to list alphabetically, but with definitions that start with years or other numbers (such as “the 2006 Act”) coming first in the list. Where a defined term begins with “the”, ignore the word “the” for the purposes of alphabetical listing.
6.5.91. Where your list contains two or more tag definitions of legislation etc., defined purely by reference to their year of passing or making (such as “the 2020 Regulations”), list primary legislation first (in date order) followed by secondary legislation (also in date order).
6.5.92. If you use a label for a piece of legislation which refers to it in any way other than merely by its year of passing or making, follow the normal alphabetical order. For example, the definition “the Withdrawal Act” belongs in the usual place for expressions beginning with “W”.
6.5.93. Each entry in the list up to and including the penultimate entry should end with a semi-colon, without any conjunction (even after the penultimate entry). Conjunctions are unnecessary, and omitting them has the advantage of making it easier to amend the list in the future.
6.5.94. Individual definitions may have subdivisions, preceded by an EM dash, such as—
““travel document” means a document which— (a) is not a passport, (b) allows a person to travel outside the United Kingdom, and (c) is issued by the Home Office to a person who is either a refugee or stateless or cannot obtain or use a passport issued by the person’s own county;”
6.5.95. In that example, the subdivisions are “paragraphs” of the definition, and can be referred to elsewhere as, for example, “paragraph (a) of the definition of “travel document””. Further subdivisions are possible, and the usual numbering and naming conventions apply to those further subdivisions. Note the use of commas and a conjunction at the end of the subdivisions in the example above. Conjunctions may well be needed, in the usual way, at the end of subdivisions in definitions. Commas, rather than semi-colons, are to be preferred where conjunctions are used at the end of one or more of the subdivisions.
6.5.96. Sometimes it may be clearer to list definitions in conceptual order (or even in the order in which expressions appear in a particular provision) rather than alphabetical order. This is more likely to be the case where there is a list of definitions in a particular provision in the main body of an SI – for example, a short list of definitions applying for the purposes of a particular regulation. Sometimes definitions build on each other, and therefore have a natural order in which they should appear. When listing definitions in an order other than alphabetical order it may be clearer for the list to be numbered according to the normal rules for subdivisions.
6.5.97. It can sometimes be confusing to encounter definitions in a list that have been included purely for the purposes of defining expressions used in another definition in the list. Although a lot easier said than done, think about whether this could be avoided. For example, consider whether the detail could be included rather than left to other definitions; and consider whether the meaning of expressions used in the definition could be dealt with in a separate provision rather than in other definitions in the list. But don’t worry too much if that just makes things too complicated.”
Editing Ordered and Unordered Lists, for example Definitions
Definitions are often tagged as 'ordered lists' or 'unordered lists'.
However, it is common to find that the amending document, which contains the new entry or sub-provision that needs to be inserted, is tagged as <ukl:P3>:
If this is the case, you won't be able to simply copy the amending text and paste it into the amended document. What you need to do will depend on the existing tagging in the amended document:
- If the amended provision already contains list tagging: re-use the existing tagging to create the new list entry, and then copy in text from the amending document. For example, if you need to add a new entry (c) to the definition of 'railway company' after the existing entry (b), highlight the
<ukl:ListItem>tag for (b), and then paste it directly under (b), after the 'close list item' tag. Then delete the text of (b) to leave the empty 'shell' of the tagging. This is now ready for you to copy your new text into. See below:
XMetaL will automatically allocate a new number/letter for the new list entry - in the example above, it has allocated (a). If the automatic allocation isn't correct you can change it by using the Attribute Inspector window to override the auto-numbering. Open the Attribute Inspector and type in the correct number/letter into the 'NumberOveride' cell, see below:
You can then copy the amending text from the amending document by highlighting the text tags, or just the words if you have created tagging in the amended document, and paste the amending text into the newly created entry, as shown below:
This image shows what to do if you need to highlight text tags:
This image shows what to do if you are simply highlighting the words to copy into tagging you have created in the amended document:
The <addition> tags will appear around the text, with the opening tagging/brackets and F-note reference appearing after the number of the entry. The image below shows you what you should see when you've successfully completed the editorial task, see below:
If the amended provision does not already contains list tagging, or does not contain list tagging at the level you need
In this situation, you will need to insert the ukl:OrderedList, ukl:ListItem, ukl:Para tagging from the Insert Element window to create the list tagging for your amendment and then insert the text from the amending provision into this structure. The correct type of list item can be selected in the Attribute Inspector by amending the attributes Type and Decoration.
Tip: If double brackets appear around your list item reference, change the Decoration to 'none' to get single brackets (occasionally the list item reference may already have a bracket and setting the Decoration will result in duplication).
| Type: | Arabic | (1, 2, 3 …) |
| Roman | (i, ii, iii …) | |
| romanUpper | (I, II, III …) | |
| alpha | (a, b, c …) | |
| alphaUpper | (A, B, C …) | |
| Decoration: | none | |
| parens | () | |
| parenRight | ) | |
| brackets | [] | |
| bracketRight | ] | |
| period | . | |
| colon | : |
For example, to insert (aa) and (bb) as a sub-entries within an existing list item (i): in the amended provision place the cursor after the closing ukl:Text tag but before the closing ukl:Para tag of the list item (i). In the list of elements in the Insert Element window double click on ukl:OrderedList then ukl:ListItem and then ukl:Para to insert the opening and closing tags for these elements.
Delete the automatically generated ‘Type new ukl:ListItem here’ text and then place the cursor after the opening ukl:OrderedList tag. In the Attribute Inspector window select 'alpha' as the Type and 'parens' as the Decoration: this will automatically change the sub-entry to (a) and you will need to override this to (aa) by typing aa into the NumberOveride cell in the Attribute Inspector.
In the amending provision select the ukl:Text opening tag and copy the sub-entry text to be inserted. In the amended provision place the cursor between the opening and closing ukl:Para tags. Select the task in Resource Manager and select Legislation - Textual Amendments - Addition from the toolbar at the top of the page.
The <addition> tags will appear around the text, with the opening tagging/brackets and F-note reference appearing after the number of the entry. This process can then be repeated to insert (bb). The image below shows you what you should see when you've successfully completed the editorial task:
In XMetaL:
On legislation.gov.uk:
Note: if the inserted sub-entry has further sub-sub-entries, place the cursor after the closing ukl:Text tag but before the closing ukl:Para tag of that sub-entry, insert another ordered list and populate as appropriate.
| Warning: When you insert a new entry into a list, be sure to check whether you need to use the number override in any subsequent entry numbers in the list (not just in the new entry number you have inserted). Also, before you complete the edit, check that all the entry numbers in the list are correct in the website preview even if the XML looks OK. |
Examples of amendments to ordered and unordered lists
Inserting multiple consecutive list items as part of the same task
Multiple consecutive lists items that are being inserted can share one set of amendment brackets: [Example needed]
However, it is recommended that you use the Editorial Tool to carry out this sort of amendment, in which case each definition will receive its own set of brackets (which is also perfectly acceptable), e.g.
Amended provision website view: 
Repealing a definition
This should be treated as a repeal of words, and you should carry out a repeal of words on the text within the ukl:text tagging of the relevant ukl:ListItem, for example:
F11 Words in s. 1(3) repealed (8.11.2006) by Education and Inspections Act 2006 (c. 40), s. 188(1), Sch. 16 para. 1(4)(d), Sch. 18 Pt. 1
Note: the repeal of a definition should be represented with 3 dots NOT a dotty line.
BEWARE of any sub-paragraphs (a), (b) etc within a definition you are repealing, and make sure after checking back in that any sub-paragraphs have been removed and, if not, check it out again and delete them manually. In the example above, after repeal of the definition of "qualifying school" sub-paragraphs (a)-(e) were still visible, and these needed to be removed manually to leave just the three dots for the repeal of words:
After the repeal of words, sub-paragraphs (a)-(e) are still visible in the Preview:
The provision is checked back out and sub-paragraphs (a)-(e) are removed (the tagging for these can just be deleted leaving the tagging for the repeal of words intact):
| For more detail on removing sub-paragraphs in a definition, see Remove sub-paragraphs when a whole definition, which is a list item, is omitted. |
Punctuation in lists
If you are adding or removing an item at the end of a list, make sure that the terminal punctuation and also any punctuation and conjunctions in previous list items are still correct. See Approach to update - Punctuation and Typography for more detail.
For example, from this:
To this:
List items in definitions usually end with a comma or semicolon. Inserted list items may be missing punctuation at the end, or may have different punctuation at the end to the rest of the list. Look out for this and correct as necessary.
Related Pages
Approach, errors and troubleshooting: