WJEC Eduqas A Level Law Book 1 sample

28 The Nature of Law and the Welsh and English Legal Systems The Law Commission’s law reform process ✗ They are undemocratic in the sense that they are not elected but can still influence the government. ✗ Some groups advocate the use of direct action, which can be illegal. Law Commission The Law Commission is the only full-time law reform body in the United Kingdom. It is an independent commission that comprises five members drawn from the judiciary, the legal profession and legal academics. The chairperson is a High Court judge. Members are appointed for a five-year term and are assisted by legally qualified civil servants and research assistants who are often law graduates. The Law Commission was set up under the Law Commission Act 1965 , and s3 of that Act states that its role is to: ‘keep under review all the law … with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the codification of such law, elimination and anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments, the reduction of the number of separate enactments, the simplification and modernisation of the law’. The Law Commission looks into laws and then seeks opinion on the possible reforms. The consultation paper will describe the current law, set out the problems and look at the options for reform. Then the Law Commission will draw up positive proposals for reform in a report, which will also set out the research that led to the conclusions. Often there will be a draft Bill attached to the report. This may then go to Parliament. The Law Commission can reform law in the same four ways as Parliament: by repeal, consolidation, codification and creation. The Law Commission Act 2009 is the most recent piece of legislation passed in relation to the Law Commission, to try to improve its success in reforming the law. • It requires that the Lord Chancellor tells Parliament each year whether the government has decided to implement any of the previous year’s Law Commission proposals and, if not, why not. This aims to hold ministers to account. • It also introduced a new parliamentary procedure which reduces the time and resources required to implement non-controversial Law Commission Bills. • The Act also sets out how the Law Commission and government departments should work together and a protocol has been agreed that the Law Commission will not take on a project without an undertaking from the relevant government minister that there is a serious intention to reform the law in that area. Success of the Law Commission 1965–1975 The Law Commission was initially successful in reforming small areas of law. Its first 20 reform programmes were enacted within an average of two years, and included the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 , Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 . Within ten years, it had a success rate of 85 per cent of its proposals for reform being enacted. Its reports led to the repeal of 2,000 obsolete statutes and partial repeal of thousands of others. 1975–2000 During this period, some academics argued that the process of law reform had stalled. • In the 10–15 years from the late 1970s, only 50 per cent of its proposals became law. • The rate hit an all-time low in 1990 when none of its proposed reforms was enacted. Research some key pressure groups, for example Fathers 4 Justice, Greenpeace, Shelter Cymru, National Union of Students, Amnesty International, Age UK, Friends of the Earth, Liberty, or No Dash for Gas. Find out: • their objectives • their methods • any successful attempts at law change. STRETCH AND CHALLENGE Research Consultation Report of recommendations Draft Bill Parliament