Law Reform

Question 1

Definition

Answer 1

• a full time law reform agency

- created by law commissions act 1965

Question 2

Role

Answer 2

• to keep all English law under review
• to codify and consolidate areas of law
• to receive and consider proposals for law reform
• to consult relevant parties on law reform
• to put forward proposals for reform
• corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide act 2007

Question 3

Problems when fulfilling their role

Answer 3

SUCCESS
- in the first 10 years 85% of the law commissions proposals were enacted by parliaments
- however, in the next 10 years only 50% were enacted and there have been numerous years since 1990 when no proposals have been enacted at all
PARLIAMENT
- there is a lack of political will to support many of the law commissions recommendations
- usually this will be because they involve enacting time consuming or politically conflicting acts
CONSTRAINTS
- the law commissions has limited budgeting and staffing, particularly in recent times due to public sector cuts
- as well as this, the law commission is the only full time law reform agency, meaning it has a huge workload