In this blog post, we will be looking at the role of the Law Commission and how it works, as well as considering the benefits it brings to the legal system. The Law Commission is a vital part of the justice system in the UK, so knowing about it can help you with a wide variety of essay questions that you might have in an exam. We will start by looking at what the Law Commission is, then move on to consider some of the advantages of it.
What is the Law Commission?
The Law Commission is an independent statutory body. Its role is to ensure that the law is as fair, modern, simple and cost-effective as possible, as well as undertaking research and consultations to create recommendations to present to Parliament. It also aims to codify the law, eliminate anomalies and repeal obsolete and unnecessary enactments. This helps to keep the law easy to understand and reduces the number of statutes.
The Board of the Law Commission is made up of the Chair, four Commissioners, the Chief Executive, up to three Non-Executive Board Members, the Head of Legal Services and the Head of Corporate Services. Commissioners work full time, but they may also do some other work such as judicial training or judicial service. The Board is also assisted by members of the Government Legal Service, two Parliamentary Counsel and research assistants.
The Chair will be either a High Court or Appeal Court judge and is appointed by the Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Justice for up to three years. They will be the public face of the Law Commission and will lead the Board in certain areas of law reform.
The other Commissioners are experienced judges, barristers, solicitors, or teachers of law and are also appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, although their appointment is for up to five years. However, this appointment may be extended.
When considering whether to review a law, the Law Commission takes three things into account. Firstly, it considers the importance of the suggested reform and how much the law would benefit from reform. Secondly, it looks at whether the area is suitable for review by the Law Commission. Finally, it will consider whether there are the resources available to review the law in question, for example, in terms of funding and experience.
What are the Advantages?
Independent
One of the main advantages of the Law Commission is that they are independent. They are not part of the government or contracted by them, so the government isn’t responsible for the Law Commission’s work. This ensures that their work is free of bias and that they choose to review the areas of law that most need it, rather than what the government asks to be reviewed. In addition, the Law Commission can choose areas to review that the government might otherwise prefer to ignore.
This independence is especially important considering that the government is made up of the current majority party or coalition. If they were responsible for choosing areas for law reform, this might come with a political slant, selecting areas that most suited that party’s policies. This would also mean that this would change whenever the government changed party after an election, making it difficult for there to be consistency in the Law Commission’s work.
Legal Experts
As mentioned above, all of the Commissioners have considerable legal expertise and are assisted by additional legal experts and researchers. All of this means that the law is examined by people with excellent legal knowledge who understand both what the law means and how it applies in practice. They can make useful suggestions for reform by seeing how the law falls short in court, where it is confusing and how it can be condensed into a single document.
In addition, this legal knowledge should mean that any research into the law should be thorough. This ensures that a suitable solution will be found, and the suggested reform will improve the law. It also makes it more likely that the government will accept the proposed reform, as they can see the reasoning.
Consultation
When a proposal for reform is suggested, the Law Commission will consult in the early stages. They will create a consultation paper detailing the existing law and the problems with it, followed by the suggestions for reform and the arguments for and against each one. This paper is circulated to the media, organisations and individuals. Anyone can then make a comment or suggestion on the proposed reform.
This means that the views of the public, as well as the expertise of interested organisations, can be taken into account. This helps to make the suggestions for law reform more accurate and makes the process more transparent.
Whole Areas Considered
In addition, the Law Commission can consider whole areas for reform, rather than just individual parts of legislation. This allows them to take an overall look at the law, which is better for resolving the wider issues in it.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you to understand why the Law Commission is so important. In my next blog post, we will be looking at some of the disadvantages and limitations of it, so come back in two weeks for that!
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