8: Law Reform

• Judges can reform the law if:

  • a word's meaning has changed
  • certain racist laws provide opportunity for discrimination
• Influences on Law Reform

  • Government - during an election, each political party sets out a manifesto, which may form the basis of a Bill
  • Media/Public - can highlight issues of concern, but can sometimes create social panic
  • World events - 9/11 = Anti-Terrorism Law
  • Pressure Groups - JustStopOil
  • Law Reform Bodies
• Law Reform Bodies: Law Commission

  • Law Commission - main law reform body that keep all the laws under review with a view of systematic development and reform
• Law Commission: How it works

  1. Topics referred to Lord Chancellor as the government OR LC select areas to reform and seek government approval
  2. Publishes consultation paper seeking views on reform (e.g current law, issues, options)
  3. LC gathers positive proposals to reform in report format
  4. Usually a Bill is attached to the report ready for the Parliamentary process.
• Law Commission: Functions

  • Repeal = LC identifies out-of-date acts that are no longer in use for Parliament to repeal (e.g Statute Law (Repeal) about the rebuilding of St Pauls Cathedral 1696)
  • Consolidation = LC draws in existing provisions together in one act where the Law isn't changed
  • Codification = Reviewing all law based on a topic and creating a code (existing law+new law) covering all aspects of it
• Other Bodies of Law Reform: Agencies

  • Law Reform Committee = part-time body, considers small area of civil law
  • Criminal Law Revision Committee = part-time body, recommends changes to criminal law
• Other Law Reform Bodies: Temporary

  • Royal Commissions = full-time temporary, investigate and report one specific area of the law and dissolved after the task is complete
  • Public Inquiries = often set up after a high profile disaster to lead to a change in the law to prevent a repeat of the event, consists of independent government people experts in the field