PART ONE: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
General
25. The statute establishing the Law Commission is ambitious. Its purpose is to
promote the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New
Zealand. That purpose has yet to be realised, although it remains a highly
desirable goal.
26. The Law Commission is a useful public institution and should be retained. It
has done much valuable work. It contains high quality jurists working for the
public interest.
27. The contribution of the Law Commission in terms of legislation passed or
administrative change has not been proportionate to the amount of public money
spent on it. The main failure has been a relatively low strike rate of the
Commission's proposals being enacted into law. The strike rate is less than 50
percent. Improvements need to be made so that the Commission can contribute
more. The Report concentrates upon recommendations of a practical kind to
improve the effectiveness of the Commission.
28. The purpose, functions and structure of the Law Commission should remain as
they are now. Only one statutory change to the Commission's statute is
recommended in the Report. The Government should be required, within six
months of receiving a Law Commission Report, to table in the House of
Representatives a statement of its policy towards the proposals contained in the
Law Commission Report.
29. The Law Commission is a Crown entity. Consideration will need to be given to
the structure of the Law Commission in the current Government project to
develop generic legislation governing Crown entities. The existing structure of
the Commission may not fit with the generic legislation being considered. This
Report finds the existing structure sound for its purpose.