"Kidnap is elsewhere a Crime; this Draft creates two Powers granted to those charged with Enforcement of Law, and Abridges other Powers they previously had to carry out said Enforcement. The Effect of the Draft is Nil upon those who are not the Crown or otherwise carrying out her Majesty's Justice."

"You on Assize would have, and could Employ, those Powers, and Detain a free Subject. The ordinary Person lacking them cannot Employ them, and hence has no Occasion to abide by their Restrictions, and for him to Kidnap is a Crime."

"It is thus Drafted in order to achieve its Aims via the most Narrow means, that is, to Permit Arrest, an act which would be Kidnap without some Power under the Law permitting it, and Govern the Arrestor."

If you can't answer a yes or no question in a way that includes at least one of those words before or within your paragraphs then Elorri rather despairs of you writing something a random Chelish peasant will understand after having it explained six times, by a paladin, when they're not even in trouble. "Would you say that, then, the answer to my question, is 'no, it is for those persons identical'?"

"It is for those Persons identical to a Blank Sheet."

"Well, it means that if someone they love has been detained and not released or charged they should petition for their release after seven days, that's not nothing."

"That's true, thank you."

"Indeed so. It is Blank as to Additional Obligations on the People but provides them a Useful Remedy they might be Glad of."

"Delegate Goés raised this point already, but one trend I've noticed in modern Chelish law, compared to Arodenite law, is that modern law tends to be much longer. I don't think this is wholly a bad trend, and it may be unavoidable if we need to ensure there's no room for ambiguity, but I confess I find myself concerned that many people, particularly among the illiterate, will struggle to understand what this law actually does. Could we perhaps provide some sort of short, clear summary at the beginning of the law so that anyone can understand?"

Supportive nod.

Honestly it seems pretty restrained, probably because it was written over the course of ten minutes. 

"Hold a Moment, please." Time to employ advanced experimental drafting techniques honed in a year of doing nothing useful.

"It is a Narrow Law, and satisfies I believe all Desiderata yet Mentioned. To my colleagues of the Reclamation I note that no Burdens are imposed on the Public beyond those existing already in Laws criminalizing Kidnap and Resisting Lawful Arrest."

('Narrow' is about the highest praise possible when it comes to legal drafting, as befits her burgeoning egomania.)

"I think it will seem - trickier - to the floor than the version we started with, but if having consulted other lawyers it in fact does what we mean then it's acceptable to me. Does anyone have further thoughts before we vote?"

The suspicion of legal drafting is unfortunate but understandable given the state of the country, and maybe passing an unambiguously good law like this will help turn things around a bit. It's just a matter of surviving the coming days having called Bellumar's bluff.

"All right, let's hold the vote to bring this to the floor then. All in favor?"

"In favor."

"Aye."

"Aye."

"In favor."

"Aye."

"Aye."

This really seems like quite a rushed lawmaking process, but she supposes the need is fairly dire.

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

Well, all the paladins voted for it. "Aye."

"Excellent. Do any members have other matters for our consideration today?"

"I don't know if it's urgent enough to warrant the rest of today's time, but I would like to float the possibility of having some kind of protection for witnesses such that they will be less reluctant to come forward, even if they would be themselves implicated, or would make enemies among those they name."