top of page

THE LAW COMMISSION

How does the Law Commission influences Parliament?
 
What is the Law Commission?

The Law Commission is an independent permanent full-time body which reviews the law.

 
How did the Law Commission start?
The Law Commission is set up under the Law Commission Act 1965. The Law Commission was created as a result of the piece of statute: The Law Commission Act 1965.
 
How does the Law Commission work?
Under the Law Commission Act 1965 Section 3 Sub-section 1 it states that the job of the Law Commission is to 'keep under review all the law.'  It keeps under review all the law by appointing to its staff and senior people.
The Law Commission consists of five commissoners and out of the five there is one chairman (male or female) which is a high court judge. The other four commissoners are either very clever in terms of academics or practising barristers of high standard. Each of the five commissoners have a team working for them which keep review of all the law and look to see what can be chnaged to create improvement.
What are the main functions of the Law Commission?
The Law Commission has three main ways in which it works: it can codify, consolidate and repeal the law. Once it has done all the three above it leads to the modernisation of the law. 
The Law Commission can help to influence Parliament when it makes statute by the process of the three main stages.
The codification stage allows particular topics to be brought together into one Act of Parliament. Codification makes a rule formal through the clarity presented within it. An example of codification can be seen through the Draft Criminal Code 1989 and Murder and Homicide 2006 which was brought together into the Coroners Justice Act 2009.
The consolidation stage brings many Acts of Parliament or statute into one Act of Parliament. The joining of many acts is done in order to make the law more understandable and accessible.  An example of consolidation can be seen through the Education Act 1996 where lots of statutes were placed in a category together with one main act being the outcome. This type of stage requires constant updating due to the Government and judges adding or interpreting the law after it becomes effective.
The repeal stages consists of statute books which are full of old law and some of which isn't exceptionally good. Repeal removes law from statute books that has no further use.
The modernisation stage is the final outcome of the process taking place within the Law Commission. It brings the law up to date to make sure that the laws by which we are governed are current and suit the needs of society.
How does the Law Commission operate?
The Law Commission can receive or start to look at areas of the law from three main areas:
  1. It can self investigate.
  2. Parliament can direct the Law Commission to carry out a piece of work on its behalf.
  3. Or academics might be talking and writing consistantly about an area of law they think needs changing and because of the influence of someones academics the Law Commission can start early to look at the particular area of law. For example, the Criminal Attempts Act 1987 - the Law Commission helps to influence Parliament to create the law under the act as a result of the work done by the academics in this area.
 
How does the process of gathering everything together work?
The Law Commission carries out a research then writes a working paper which is the starting point of consultation between Parliament, Academics and members of the Law Commission and judiciary before eventually writing a report. The report goes to MPs and the Parliament in order to check if the work of the Law Commission is going to be considered to be created as a new law.
Advantages & Disadvantages of the Law Commission as an influence on Parliament 
Advantages
       
Disdvantages
       

The Law Commission is able to provide good law. The law is thorough as a large amount of time is spent on the creation of law.

 

The Law Commission is independent of the Government allowing it to look away from political bias in particular areas. It looks at law in terms of how important it is to society.

 

The Law Commission undertakes self-investigation which means it doesnt have to wait for Parliament to direct or inform it of what laws need to be changed. It can identify areas of law which need changing and apply clever people to investigate.

 

There is a large amount of expertise within the Law Commission as the chairman is a high court judge and each of his/her commissiones are very accomplished academics or practising lawyers. There is a large amount of expertise which can be applied to the problem and areas of law being investigated.

 

Also, a large number of areas within the law are researched and advanced because of the work done by the Law Commission.

 

The Law Commission does not have to consult. The Government has no obligation to consult when or how it implements law. If it wants to introduce a new law it will do so without having to go into the Law Commission.

 

The Government also had no obligation to follow what the Law Commission suggests. The Law Commission may undertake 2/3 years of work on a particular area of law however the Government may refuse it.

 

The investigations taken place in the Law Commission are long and lengthy as they take time to come into force. Also many of these laws may take years to be looked at meaning that the Government may have changed by then. 

 

Due to the Law Commission taking on a large amount of work many of this work can include a lack of thoroughness even though expertise provides good law. 

 

Also, one-third of all Law Commission work is not implemented by Parliament therefore most of the work provided is wasted.

 

 

 

bottom of page