Law Reform Flashcards
What is the Law Commission (first paragraph for all 3 Law Reform questions)?
The Law Commission is an independent body responsible for reviewing and reforming law, they were set up under the Law Commissions Act (1965). They do this by codifying, consolidating and repealing law.
What do the Law Commission do?
Under s3 of the Law Commissions Act, they must review all areas of law to make systematic reform by codifying, consolidating, and repealing the law.
What is codifying?
Bringing together all laws on one topic into one complete code. For example, the LC wants to bring all criminal law together into one ‘Criminal Code’.
What is consolidating?
Consolidating is bringing law that is spread across many cases and statutes (such as non fatals across OAPA and common law) into one Act. This led to the Draft Bill for NFOs in 1998 which has still not been implemented.
What is repealing and have the LC been successful in doing it?
Getting rid of law that does not need to exist. There have been nineteen Stature Law Repeal acts from the LC, repealing more than 3,000 acts in their entirety.
What is the Criminal Code?
In 1985, LC published their first draft of the code which tied together lots of areas of criminal law. No Gov has ever implemented the full code and the LC tends to work on smaller areas so Gov is more willing to adapt.
What were the LC successful in implementing?
The LC were more successful when it came to the Family Law Act (1996) which tied together and modernised law on divorce and domestic violence.
What are the first 2 steps in the LC proposing reform?
Identifying an issue. An area of law is referred to LC by Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Gov, or LC choose a topic and seek Gov approval. They then conduct research into this issue by looking at cases, statutes and academic articles to understand the state of the law.
What do the LC do after research?
Publish a consultation paper containing a description of the law, explaining problems and suggesting options for reform. Experts then respond to the paper with their views.
What do the LC do after consultation?
Based on the responses the LC make a proposal for reform in a report explaining the research and consultation. This usually contains a draft bill laying out how new law should be formed. Parliament must pass the bill for it to become law.
Give the final paragraph for explain how Law Commission proposes reform
To help with this, Law Commissions Act 2009 amended the 1965 Act so the Lord Chancellor must report to Parliament once a year to follow up on reports and ask why implementation did not happen. Also, since 2010 there is a Parliamentary procedure to implement uncontroversial LC reports which has passed 6 acts.
What are the 4 sets of people in the Law Commission?
- The ‘chair’
- Other 4 commissioners
- 2 Non-Executive board members
- Chief Exec, 20 members of the Gov Legal Service, 2 Parliamentary Counsel and research assistants
Who are the commissioners supported by?
Up to 2 Non-Exec board members who provide support and expertise on issues of governance and strategy.
As well as a Chief Executive, 20 members of the Gov Legal Service, two Parliamentary Counsel (who draft bills) and a number of research assistants
Who is the ‘chair?’
A High Court or Appeal Court judge appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice for up to 3 years.
Who are the other 4 commissioners?
Experienced judges/barristers/teachers/solicitors with a range of expertise. Appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice for up to 5 years (which can be extended).
