Public Participation in Drafting and Amending the Law

Legislation is one of the most important matters of governance. In democratic societies the responsibility usually lies with the legislative assembly composed of elected representatives of the people. Because of the complexity and importance of legislation jurists have enumerated certain principles for improving the quality of laws. Among these principles is the maximum participation of citizens in the legislative process. One of the issues faced by the legislative system of Iran is facing, due to its disregard for the quality of laws, is the desuetude of laws and citizens' disobedience to them. This will eventually lead to the weakening of the rule of law. Solving this problem depends on the examination of ways to improve the quality of laws. This issue makes research on public participation in the legislative process necessary. This paper, using library sources, and with a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to investigate the place of public participation in legislation and its and goals. The findings of the research indicate that public participation in the drafting of laws is a right of the nation. As such, the legislator is required to take the opinions of the people, stakeholders and experts into account when drafting laws. One of the basics and goals of public participation in legislation is to improve the quality and acceptability of laws.