2. Lesson Objectives By the end of today’s session, all students will be able to; Explain the need for reform of the law Name informal and formal sources that provide pressure for the law to be changed Describe the role of the Law Commission

3. Law Reform The law is forever changing, adapting and reforming. This reform is essential to a fair and up to date legal system. The reform of the law in England and Wales is influenced by a number of different sources, with some having more influence than others. Today we are going to consider these influences and discuss their impact on our laws.

4. Parliament Throughout the session of Parliament (normally happens once a year), the Government has the final say on what new laws will be sent before the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Government’s plans for new laws are announced in the Queen’s Speech. Does anybody know who writes the Queen’s Speech? Queen's Speech Queen's Speech - 4 Minutes

5. Reasons for change Changing values & morals Advances in technology Protection of the community Changes in society Pressure for change to be made law can be brought about in a number of ways, these can be divided into two groups, FormalInformal

6. Judges When judges make decisions on points of law within court cases, sometimes this point of a law may be a new one. Therefore the judge is ‘making a new law.’ Lord Lane found the defendant guilty of raping his wife, contrary to the existing law which saw no illegality where the victim was married to the defendant. A new law was created. The House of Lords/Supreme Court may use the Practice Statement to alter any laws made in this way when they think it is necessary to do so. It is used when there has been a change of opinion or a change in social values, although it is not used very often. Judges may only reform the law in a small number of cases, they’re job is to apply the law, not to change it R v R 1990

7. Herrington v British Railway Board 1972 A six year old boy was electrocuted and suffered severe burns when he wondered from a play park onto a live railway line. The railway line was surrounded by a fence however, part of the fence had been pushed down and the gap created had been used frequently as a short cut to the park. The defendant was aware of the gap in the fence which had been present for several months, but had failed to do anything about it. Under existing authority of Addie v Dumbreck no duty of care was owed to trespassers. However, the House of Lords departed from their previous decision using the 1966 Practice Statement and held that the defendant railway company did owe a duty of common humanity to trespassers

8. Public Opinion The Government may change laws where there is strong public opinion that a change is needed. This is often used as a political tactic, normally used when a government is coming towards the end of term and wish to remain popular with voters. How do you think the Government are made aware of such public opinion? The Media Pressure Groups

9. A group that tries to influence public policy in the interest of a particular cause. An example of public opinion and pressure groups leading to a change in the law, was the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004 which banned hunting foxes with dogs. Sometimes pressure groups will campaign not only for a change in the law but against one. There are also occasions when two pressure groups have conflicting interests and want opposing things. This was seen when the ban against fox hunting was considered. The League Against Cruel Sports V Countryside Alliance

10. Lobbying Some pressure groups try to persuade individual MPs to support their cause. This is called lobbying (because members of the public are able to meet MPs in the lobbies of the House of Commons.) If this approach is successful, the pressure group can encourage the MP to raise the issue in Parliament and push for it to be considered. Some back bench MPs may be able to use a Private Member’s Bill session to introduce a Bill in the pressure group’s favour. It is however unlikely that that such a Bill would be passed in this way unless it received wide spread support.

11. Is there a need for an independent law reform body? The problem with the methods of law reform we have just discussed, is that Government runs to a political agenda. They are not interested in changing the ‘Pure’ law – such as land law, contract law and criminal law etc. In the same way, Judges can only reform the law relating to a particular case they are trying. Public opinion is not always based on accurate information. Pressure groups are often concerned with specific issues that the public as a whole might not share. We have seen this when two pressure groups are campaigning for opposite aims.

12. The Law Commission The Law Commission was set up in 1965 by the Law Commissions Act. The Law Commission is a full time body and is made of a High Court Judge and four other Law Commissioners. There also other staff that assist with research and an additional four parliamentary draftsmen who help with drafting of any proposed bills.

13. “it shall be the duty of each of the Commissions to take and keep under review all the law with which they are respectively concerned with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the codification of such law, the elimination of anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments, the reduction of the number of separate enactments and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law…”

14. How does the Law Commission work? The Lord Chancellor, on behalf of the Government, refers topics for reform to the commission. Alternatively, the commission may chose areas for reform itself and then seek Governmental approval to draft a report on it. The Law Commission will then research that area of the law and publish a consultation paper seeking views on possible reform. The consultation paper will include the current law, the problems with it and the options available that would allow for reform.

15. Following the response to the consultation paper, the Commission will then outline proposals for reform. These proposals will again be set out in a report, which will also include all the research that lead to their proposals. Attached to the back of the report, is often a draft bill. It is intended that this is the bill that will go before Parliament.

16. Activity In groups of 3 – 4, I want you to become draftsmen, but not very good ones. I want you to create a law that has room for reform in it. It can be a law that you think is morally wrong or it could be law that makes no sense. We are then going to swap laws and you will all play the part of the Law Commission and reform the laws in front of you. You are to produce a “report” on why you think the law is in need of reform and what your proposed reform is.

17. Repeal and Consolidation There are some ridiculous laws that are still on the books and have not yet been repealed: In Chester you can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city walls and after midnight. Meanwhile in Hereford, you can shoot a Welsh person all day, but only on Sunday, with a Longbow, in the Cathedral Close. In York, upon sight of a Scotsman, it is still legal to shoot him with a bow and arrow, except on Sundays. http://itthing.com/100-weird-laws-from-around-the-world

18. There are sometimes, very old and as we have seen ridiculous statues, which are still on the statute book, yet have no relevance to modern life. In order to remove these, the Law Commission prepares a Statute Law (Repeals) Bill for Parliament. Through this act thousands of statutes have now been repealed.

19. Consolidation Consolidation means to combine. What do you think consolidation means in relation to Statues? For example, before 2000, the law on sentencing under 17s had been amended ten times and it was necessary that Judges consult all ten amendments when sentencing offenders of this age. Much of these laws were eventually consolidated into the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000.

20. The Law Commission produces about five Consolidation Bills every year. However as soon as a Consolidation Bill is passed, more Acts are coming into force. The Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 was quickly outdated by the Criminal Justice & Court Services Act 2000 and again by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and AGAIN by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

21. Effectiveness The first ten years – 85% of the Law Commission proposals were being made law by Parliament. The next ten years – Only 50% of it’s proposals became law. This drop was due to lack of Parliament’s time for Law reform, and in honesty lack of interest. In 1990 – 0% of the Law Commission’s proposals became Law 1990 – 2010 – More reports have been enacted but there is a delay in some getting implemented.

22. Reform to Criminal Law The reform of criminal law, has been the slowest. In the beginning the Law Commission had intended to create a criminal code which would cover large areas of Criminal Law. A code was created in 1985 and 1989. What do you think was the problem with one code for criminal law? The Law Commission resorted to publishing reports for reform and some have been implemented, E.g. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

23. “Fourteen years ago (1993) the Law Commission published a report and draft Bill recommending an overhaul of the current legislation, which dates back to Offences Against the Persons Act 1861. In 1997 the Home Office partially accepted these recommendations in principle. In 1998 the Home Office published a consultation paper setting out their initial proposals for reforming the law in this area.” The law on Offences Against the Person is still awaiting reform.

24. Set UpBy the Law Commission Act 1965 PersonnelChairman and four other Commissioners Support staff including Parliamentary Draftsmen FunctionTo ‘keep the law under review’ – S3 of the Law Commissions Act 1965 EffectivenessFirst ten years – 85% of proposals were enacted Next ten years – 50% of proposals enacted 1990 – No reports enacted 1990 to 2010 – More reports enacted but some still awaiting implementation Recent ReformsLand Registration Act 2002 Fraud Act 2006 Corporate Manslaughter & Corporate Homicide Act 2007

25. Homework I would like you to go away and research other reform agencies that may exist in the UK and provide me with the a fact sheet on the ones you find. The best ones will be photocopied for the rest of the group to use as a revision aid! So make it bright and colourful