Law-making in the Iranian Legislative System in the Light of Legislative-Drafting Models

Lawmaking is the most important procedure which other judicial or executive procedures are influenced by it so the importance of all its processes are increased. Legislation is one of the components of the legislative process which itself can be made based on different factors. A review of the legislative process in different countries suggests that in a general classification, the law-making structure can be classified based on the concentration ratio or diffusion degree in lawmaking as well as the quality of interaction between the lawmakers or legislators and experts as well as the public, into three categories: centralized, consensus-based and diffused. During centralized law-making process, policy is formed within the framework of the executive branch as well as through some central coordinated mechanism. In the consensus-based process, both the executive and legislative branches have necessary human resources to transform policies into laws. Diffused law-making is characterized by the adoption as well as orientation of policies not only in the executive and legislative branches but also beyond the government system.
According to this categorization, the legal system in the Islamic Republic of Iran is diffused, and despite the structural and normative shortcomings in this area, the elaboration of an appropriate model for law drafting has not been considered by the relevant academic communities or related governance associations. By examining different patterns of law-drafting, the establishment of a consensus-based law-drafting system can be considered as a favorable option for the Iranian law-making.