Influences on Parliament – The Law Commission

What is the Law Commission? Established by the Law Commission Act 1965 Permanent and independent A full-time staff headed up by five Commissioners Chairperson is a High Court Judge – responsible for promoting the work of the Commission and is its public face and voice Other four members are from the legal professions and academic lawyers All staff are legally trained S3(1) Law Commission Act 1965 – role of Commission is to “keep under review all the law” – includes codification and consolidation, repealing obsolete law, simplification and modernisation of law

How the Law Commission Influences Parliament – Codification Codification is bringing together all of the law (both statutory and judgement) on a particular topic into a single Act of Parliament Draft Criminal Code was published in 1989 but has never become law Commission has gradually accepted that its initial plans were over- ambitious and that codification of smaller areas is preferable More recently, the Commission has selected areas of law and clarified them hoping to codify them at a later date E.g. The Land Registration Act 2002 and the Fraud Act 2006 have been reformed in this way

How the Law Commission Influences Parliament – Consolidation Drawing together all the statutory provisions relating to a particular area into one Act About 5 Consolidation Bills produced each year E.g. – Education Act 1996 and The Powers of Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000

How the Law Commission Influences Parliament – Limits in use of Codification and Consolidation While codifying and consolidating Acts makes it easer to find out and understand, they require constant updating to truly fulfil their purpose The new act will soon be interpreted by the courts or amended by further legislation, which will require cross-referencing to another source of law again.

How the Law Commission Influences Parliament – Repeal Recommends the repeal of obsolete statutes – removing laws that have no further use Important to remove these Acts as they make research of the law more time-consuming and cause confusion Statute Law (Repeals) Bill in 2012 recommended the repeal of nearly 800 old laws

How the Law Commission Influences Parliament – Law Reform It is also necessary to suggest changes to existing laws and to create new areas of law in response to social change and technical developments E.g. – Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 made occupiers of land responsible for injury to trespassers while on their land, Computer Misuse Act 1990 deals with the problem of computer hacking

The Process of Law Commission Investigations Commission has topics referred to it by government departments, or may select a topic of its own, which will be considered after the government has approved Pressure to investigate an area of law may also come from other sources – e.g. Criminal Attempts Act 1981 was a result of a Law Commission report prompted by academic pressure Process: Research of the issue Produce a working paper setting out the current law, the problems, and suggestions for reform Consultations with anyone interested in commenting on the issue Produce a report including a draft Bill Government decides whether to introduce the draft Bill into Parliament and implement the recommendations E.g. – legislation which has resulted from this process includes the Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996

Advantages and Disadvantages Advantages A permanent non-political full-time body and can investigate any area of law it believes to be in need of reform – independent of the Government Produces draft Bills ready for Parliament to introduce – reduces the workload for ministers Responsible for many sensible changes to the law – e.g. Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, the Fraud Act 2006 and the abolition of the ‘Year and a Day’ rule Can undertake extensive research and engage in wide consultation so its recommendations for law reform are well informed and this helps avoid problems with the application of the law Disadvantages Parliament has often ignored the Commission’s proposals - only about two thirds of its proposals have been implemented – often because governments cannot find time in the legislative programme for non-urgent law reform – e.g. reform of the law on non- fatal offences – recommended by the Law Commission in a report in 1993 and accepted by the Labour government of 1997 who produced a draft Bill in 1998 but they never implemented it Further lack of power shown by the fact that Government does not need to consult with the Commission on any new laws Investigates as many as areas at the same time – may mean that each investigation is not as thorough as one carried out by a Royal Commission or a Commission of Inquiry

Types of questions you could be asked Describe the influence of the Law Commission on Parliament (10 marks) Briefly discuss advantages and disadvantages of the influence of the Law Commission on Parliament (10 marks)

Answering Exam Questions Describe/Explain questions: Explain how they influence law making – use examples of statutes (laws) created/reformed as a result of the Law Commission Evaluation questions: Explain why the particular point is an advantage or disadvantage Use evidence and examples of successes and failures