1. Law Making
Law Reform

2. Objectives Explain the ways in which Parliament can change the law.
Explain judicial influences in changing the law.
Identify the various pressure groups for reform.
Explain the role of agencies of law reform.
Evaluate the role and performance of law reform bodies.
Discuss the problems with law reform agencies.

3. Law reform
Legal systems cannot stand still and must adapt, there are a range of ways of bringing change:
What ways can you think of that bring about change?
Judicial change.
Reform by Parliament
Pressure groups
Law reform agencies.

4. Judicial change
R v R ( 1991)
Should the courts / judges be making such important changes to the law as seen in R v R?

5. Reform by Parliament Most of law reform is carried out by
Parliament – 4 ways:
Repeal
Creation of a new law
Consolidation
Codification e.g. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

6. Pressure Groups What pressure groups can you think of?
Charities e.g. Shelter, Child Poverty Action
Professional bodies such as the GMC
JUSTICE
Greenpeace, CND

7. Pressure Groups
If you were a member of a Pressure group how would you go about campaigning for a change in the law?
Publicity.
Petitions.
Lobbying MPs.
Demonstrations.
Writing to MPs/ Ministers.
Snowdrop Petition (Dunblane) managed to persuade the Government to ban most types of handguns .

8. Other pressures for change
Public opinion
Media pressure/ campaigns e.g. Stephen Lawrence; ‘naming and shaming’ paedophiles
Treaty obligations influence changes in our law
Other political parties
The civil service

9. Law reform agencies The Law Commission Set up in 1965
5 people from - judiciary, legal profession and legal academics, assisted by legally qualified civil servants

10. Law reform agencies The Law Commissions Act 1965
Law Commission’s task is to:
Codify the law;
Remove anomalies in the law;
Repeal obsolete and unnecessary legislation;
Consolidate the law;
Simplify and modernise the law.
Commission publishes a consultation paper and final recommendations are set out in a report with a draft Bill.

11. Law reform agencies The Criminal Law Revision Committee
CLRC – considers reforms to the criminal law
Members include the DPP, judges and academics
CLRC has not convened since 1985.

12. Law reform agencies Royal Commissions
Royal Commissions study particular areas of law reform
Independent and non- political made up of a variety of people
Final report – up to Government to act on recommendations or not
Examples include:
1981 Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure
Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords

13. Law reform agencies Public Inquiries One-off temporary committee.
Examples include:
Hillsborough football stadium disaster
Sinking of Herald of Free Enterprise
Stephen Lawrence
Railway accidents
Test tube babies
BSE crisis
Conviction of Harold Shipman
Inquiry into suicide of Dr David Kelly.

14. Law reform agencies Temporary Inquiries
Government departments sometimes set up temporary projects into a specific area of law;
e.g.
Lord Woolf’s inquiry into the Civil Justice System.

15. Have law reform agencies been successful?
The Law Commission – Codification has not been very successful.
CLRC – The Theft Acts 1968 and 1978 – seen as CLRC greatest achievement, however a string of miscarriages of justice in the 1970s.
Royal Commissions – mixed results.
Public Inquiries – rely on political will - R (on the application of Gentle) v the Prime Minister (2006) and effects of the Inquiries Act

16. Problems with law reform agencies
Very little power
No obligation on Governments to follow recommendations and proposals may be drastically altered
Little influence over how proposals are put into practice
Agencies tend to compromise too much
Waste of expertise – once disbanded they play no further role in the law-making process
No single Government ministry for law reform.

17. Test yourself
What are the four main ways in which Parliament can change the law?
Give 3 examples of pressure groups.
In what year was the Law Commission set up?
What do the initials CLRC stand for?
State 3 problems with law reform agencies.

18. Do Now Activities
What do you think of campaigns by various newspapers to name and shame paedophiles? Discuss your opinions and research with the class.
Visit the Law Commission website and chose an area of law that you are studying or will study, find a report that has been prepared in this field and summarise 3 of its recommendations.
Visit the Home Office website and read the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence - discuss whether you think this inquiry has been effective in reforming the English legal system.

19. Useful Websites