Law Reform Flashcards
where do ideas for new laws/changes to existing law come from?
-gov policy(listed in manifest of winning party)- leads to all the legislation in each queens speech including major acts such as the human rights act 1998
-obligations under european n international treaties(used to include eu law)- e.g consumer rights act 2015
- public opinion- (through media) led to legislation such as forced marriage (civil protection) act 2007 n dangerous dogs act 1991
-pressure groups- eg the league against cruel sports who campaigned for the hunting act 2004
-pm bills- eg michael colvin’s computer misuse act 1991 or david steels abortion act 1967
-judicial decisions- eg gaps in law highlighted by hol decision in brb v herrington which led to the passing of the occupiers liability act 1984
where do proposals for law reform come from? what’s the most important one?
law reform bodies. most important is the law commission
what’s the law commission n who sits in it?
a full time law reform body set up by the law commission act 1966. a judge, expert in the law field, and chair person sit in the law comm
what does the law commission do?
- they systematically keep all english law under review
- receive n consider proposals for reform n consult relevant parties
- put forward proposals for law reform
- repeal
-consolidate - and codify
what do repeal, codify, and consolidate mean?
repeal- identify n change old acts that have no use e.g adoption act and blasphemy act
consolidation- bringing together different acts so u know exactly where to go to find info e.g. powers of criminal courts act
codification- bringing together all the law on one topic (judges law)
how do they reform the law
- receive topics received from lord chancellor on behalf of gov or may select areas in need of reform
- they research the area of law n publish a consultation paper seeking views on possible reform
- paper will describe current law, set out problems n look at options for reform
- they then propose the law high is presented ins report which’ll also set out the research that led to its conclusions n there’s often a draft bill attached to the report
what’s are examples of law introduced as a result of the work done by the law commission?
-occupiers liability act 1984
-coroners and justice act 2009
-the corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide act 2007
what are the advantages of reforming the law through the law commission?
-uses legally qualified commissioners to investigate, who are experts in their field.
- politically independent n has the aim of improving the law
- easier for lawyer n public to understand area of law if parl accepts a recommendation to codify it
- old unnecessary n irrelevant laws are removed from the statute book
what are the disadvantages of reforming the law through the law commission?
- gov are reluctant to find parl time to consider proposals
- parl tend to concentrate on debating matters of broad policy rather than on purely legal issues
- gov isn’t bound to accept law commission reports or implement any recommendations
-gov isn’t bound to consult law commission before bringing any changes in the law to parl
what are the disadvantages and advantages of the influences on law reform?political influence
+ manifesto, all proposals are passed if gov has majority of seats, public can choose party when manifesto is published prior, proposals are debated in parliament n improvements can be suggested, hol have expertise in wide topics
- new party can repeal laws made from last party which can be costly, open to criticism etc, if the gov has small majority may be difficult to achieve changes in the law, suggestions for reform of proposals from hol doesn’t have to be taken on by commons or gov, in crisis govs focus will be to deal w it n this differs from their manifesto commitments
