Fifty Years of the Law Commissions

This book brings together past and present law commissioners, judges, practitioners, academics and law reformers to analyse the past, present and future of the Law Commissions in the United Kingdom and beyond. Its internationally recognised authors bring a wealth of experience and insight into how and why law reform does and should take place, covering statutory and non-statutory reform from national and international perspectives. The chapters of the book developed from papers given at a conference to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Law Commissions Act 1965.

1. Introduction
Matthew Dyson, James Lee and Shona Wilson Stark
2. Fifty Years of the Law Commissions: The Dynamics of Law Reform Now, Then and Next
Lady Hale
Part 2: The First Half-Century of the Commissions
3. Introduction
Lord Hodge
4. Strategies of the Early Law Commission
Paul Mitchell
5. Fifty Years of Law Reform-A Note on the Northern Ireland Style
Neil Faris
6. Working on the Larger Canvas-Law Reform in a Federal System: Thoughts on Forty Years of the Australian Law Reform Commission
Kathryn Cronin
7. Law Reform and Social Policy
Eric Clive
Part 3: Institutions, Commissions, Committees, Codifiers
8. Introduction
Lord Beith
9. Memoir of a Reforming Chairman
Sir Terence Etherton
10. The Duty to Make the Law More Accessible?
The Two C-Words
George L Gretton
11. The Former Law Commission of Canada: The Road Less Travelled
Yves Le Bouthillier
12. The Law Commission and the Criminal Law: Reflections on the Codification Project
Ian Dennis
Part 4: The Many Faces of Law Reform
13. Introduction
Lord Carnwath
14. Democracy, Law Reform and the Rule of Law
Lord Toulson
15. Promoting Law Reform: By Means of Draft Bills or Otherwise
Shona Wilson Stark
16. Law Commissions, Courts and Society: A Sceptical View
William Binchy
17. A Good Name, a Long Game
Laura Dunlop
Part 5: Implementation by Statute
18. Introduction
Dame Mary Arden
19. The Legislative Implementation of Law Reform Proposals
Sir Grant Hammond
20. Post-legislative Scrutiny, Legislative Drafting and the 'Elusive Boundary'
Andrew Burrows
21. Reflections on Statutory Implementation in the Law Commission
Nicholas Paines
22. Implementation by Statute: What the Future Holds
Hector MacQueen
Part 6: How Law Commissions Work
23. Introduction
Sir James Munby
24. The Law Commission Method: Exportable to the EU?
Hugh Beale
25. How Law Commissions Work: Some Lessons from the Past
David Johnston
26. Challenges for Independent Law Reformers from Changing External Priorities and Shorter Timescales
Sir Jack Beatson
27. The Bill's Progress
Stephen Lewis
Part 7: Courts and Commissions
28. Introduction
Lord Drummond Young
29. The Etiquette of Law Reform
James Lee
30. Law Reform in Private Law: The Role of Statutes in Supplementing or Supplanting the Common Law
Barbara McDonald
31. The Refiner's Fire
Charles Harpum
32. Reflections on the Courts and the Commission
David Ormerod
Part 8: Commissioning the Future
33. Introduction
Elizabeth Cooke
34. The Scottish Law Commission and the Future of Law Reform in Scotland
Lord Pentland
35. Looking to the Future
Sir David Lloyd Jones
36. Commissioning the Future-A Chief Executive's Perspective
Elaine Lorimer
37. Implementation of Law Reform Reports: Developments in Scotland
Malcolm McMillan
38. The Future is a Foreign Country, They Do Things Differently There
Matthew Dyson
39. Making Law-Who, How and What?
KJ Keith

“Hart deserves to be complimented for commissioning this volume which has the potential to become a salient work of reference on law reform bodies and legal reform more generally.” –  Journal of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association

“This collection will appeal to a variety of readers. For those working close to the Law Commissions or other reform institutions, many of the debates within the collection will be familiar, and provide an opportunity to reflect and perhaps reconsider core aspects of the reform agenda. But the collection also reaches beyond this audience to reform-minded academics and other legal experts, providing often compelling insight into the challenges facing reformers of the law, both substantive and structural.” –  J J Child, Legal Studies

“... a lively and wide-ranging examination of fifty years of law reform ... For the contribution made by the Law Commissions, the book under review provides a fitting celebration.” –  Kenneth Reid, Edinburgh Law Review

“[The book's] broad range of critical analysis, from both practical and academic viewpoints, repays careful study ... it definitely should find a place in every institutional law library ... It would certainly be a worthy addition to the shelves of all who are interested in the mechanics of law reform, whether they work in the sphere or are legislative drafters or have an academic appetite (its footnote references are a mine in themselves).” –  Jonathan Teasdale, The Theory and Practice of Legislation