Law Commission

A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal changes or restructuring. The first term is prevalent in the United Kingdom, the second is prevalent in the Commonwealth, and the third is prevalent in the United States, where "reform" is too strong a term (it necessarily implies the legislature must have been incompetent or corrupt). The functions of these bodies include drafting revised versions of confusing laws, preparing consolidated versions of laws, making recommendations on updating outdated laws and making recommendations on repealing obsolete or spent laws.

  • Australia – Australian Law Reform Commission
  • Canada – Law Commission of Canada established by the Law Commission of Canada Act on July 1, 1997, replacing the Law Reform Commission of Canada which had been dissolved in 1993 by the Mulroney government. On September 25, 2006, funding to the Commission was removed by the Harper government, although the Act establishing the commission has not been repealed.
    • Alberta – Alberta Law Reform Institute
    • British Columbia – British Columbia Law Institute, formed to replace the British Columbia Law Reform Commission, which had been disbanded due to lack of funding
    • Manitoba – Manitoba Law Reform Commission
    • Nova Scotia – Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia
    • Ontario – Law Commission of Ontario
    • Saskatchewan – Saskatchewan Law Reform Commission
  • Fiji – Fiji Law Reform Commission
  • Hong Kong – Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong, established in 1980
  • India – Law Commission of India
  • Ireland – The Law Reform Commission, established under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975
  • Jersey – Jersey Law Commission established by the States of Jersey in 1996
  • Nepal – Nepal Law Commission established by the Nepal Law Commissions Act 2007
  • New Zealand – Law Commission established by the Law Commission Act
  • South Africa - South African Law Reform Commission
  • United Kingdom
    • England and Wales – The Law Commission
    • Scotland, the Scottish Law Commission, established by the Law Commissions Act 1965 at the same time as the Law Commission in England and Wales
    • Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Law Commission (formerly the Law Reform Advisory Committee)
    • Other bodies concerned with law reform in the United Kingdom included the Law Revision Committee (1934 to 1939) and the Law Reform Committee (1952 - )
  • United States - Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives
    • California - California Law Revision Commission
    • New York - New York Law Revision Commission

Famous quotes containing the words law and/or commission:

    “The law before us, my lords, seems to be the effect of that practice of which it is intended likewise to be the cause, and to be dictated by the liquor of which it so effectually promotes the use; for surely it never before was conceived by any man entrusted with the administration of public affairs, to raise taxes by the destruction of the people.”
    —Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)

    “A sense of humour keen enough to show a man his own absurdities as well as those of other people will keep a man from the commission of all sins, or nearly all, save those that are worth committing.”
    —Samuel Butler (1835–1902)