Wikipedia:Naming conventions (government and legislation)

This page contains naming conventions for articles related to government offices, elections and legislation.

Guidelines for government departments, agencies, and offices

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Elections and referendums

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Legislation

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Guidance on naming conventions for legislation:

  • Prefer titles that reflect the name commonly used in reliable sources.
  • Generally, use the short title instead of the long title (for example, European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 instead of An Act to amend the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1978 so as to alter the method used in Great Britain for electing Members of the European Parliament to make other amendments of enactments relating to the election of Members of the European Parliament and for connected purposes), unless the long title is much better known. However, a redirect from long to short titles should be created, and the long title should be included in the article.
  • Observe official titles and common use: In the United States, the form typically includes "of" with the year (Judiciary Act of 1789), while legislation in Britain tends to be referred to by the short name form and then the year without any comma or "of" between them (Judiciary Act 1903). In Canada, short titles that include a year will have a comma before the year (eg Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017).[1] If the official name of the bill includes a year, it should not be omitted in the article title, as it is part of the actual name of the bill and not a disambiguation.
  • If several acts have the same common name, the title should:
  • If the two different acts are passed in the same year with the same title, parenthetically disambiguate based on country: European Communities Act 1972 (UK) and European Communities Act 1972 (Ireland).

References

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