Training Module: Managing cross-references (including J-refs)

This module will teach you how to create cross references in Lawmaker and how to modify and update them as the draft document evolves.

Introduction

References

Exercises

Getting Started

Before you can draft a bill, you will need to create your own training project containing a half finished bill to continue drafting.
If you haven’t got one already, create a project containing a half finished bill:
The following steps will allow you to create the data required for this exercise.

Exercise 1: Create some internal and external cross references

Cross references can be created manually or using the automatic tagging feature. The automatic tagging feature will additionally look for references to enacted legislation on legislation.gov.uk and mark up anything it can find.

If you haven’t got one already, create a project containing a half finished bill:
Update section 5 with the following highlighted edits⁠—

Open

Step 1: Manually insert a cross reference

Manually create a cross reference to section 4(2) in section 5

Step 2: Use tag-references to create cross references

You can automatically tag cross references that you have typed into your provisions. It’s best to do this in a controlled manner e.g. tagging a single section at a time so that you can check for any false-positive cross references.

Exercise 2: View the target of a reference

You might want to check that a cross reference is referring to the correct provision. The quickest way to do this is to use the Goto Ref feature.

Continue from exercise 1

Step 1: View the target of an internal reference

View the cross reference target within the same document

Step 2: View the target of an external reference

View the cross reference to the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

Exercise 3: Use an alias to describe external cross references

Lawmaker will also identify external references that use an alias instead of the full title of the legislative document, e.g. references to “the 2007 Act” or “the 1998 Regulations”. It does this by searching for the definitions of the alias elsewhere within the document.

Recreate the highlighted updates to section 1—

Step 1: Create the alias

In section 1, create an alias for the Coronavirus Act 2020

Step 2: Tag references in a provision that uses an alias

Test that the alias was recognised by Lawmaker by running tag references

Exercise 4: Restructure your document and update cross references

If you have successfully created cross references to other provisions in your document, Lawmaker can automatically update these if their number changes or warn you if the target provision has changed into a different provision.

Back in section 5, make the following updates—

Step 1: Make structural and numbering changes to your document

Move the target provisions around and change some of their structures to see how update references works in Lawmaker

Step 2: Update cross references

Now that the provisions have been rejigged, run update references to see how Lawmaker handles these changes

Step 3: Update an individual cross reference

To fix the cross reference whose target was a subsection and now is a paragraph, you need to remove the old x-ref tag and retag it

Exercise 5: Use J-ref to number your provisions and include them in references

Sometimes during drafting it’s useful to use permanent references to sections or schedules so that you can easily refer to them when the document is in flux and their official provision number is not stable. The mechanism to do this is called J-refs.

Make the following updates to sections 6 and 7—

Step 1: Insert J-refs

Add J-refs to sections 6 and 7 which can then be viewed in references

Step 2: Tag cross references

Update section 7 to include a reference to section 6 and run tag references

Step 3: View J-refs in references

To view the J-refs inside the cross references, toggle the view of cross references to include J-refs