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Commission Act 1990 (Tas) the Legal Aid Commission may make
recommendations to the Minister with respect to any reforms of the law it
considers desirable. The Legal Aid Commission has set up various Committees
to help achieve this. The in-house Law Reform Committee liaises with
community groups and other lawyers who are invited to suggest areas of law
which may require reform.
Nova Scotia
192. The Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia Commission)
was created in 1991 by the Government of Nova Scotia under the Law Reform
Commission Act S.N.S. 1990. The Nova Scotia Commission is an independent
adviser to the Government, reporting to Parliament through the Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General for Nova Scotia. But it is not a Government
Department.
193. The Nova Scotia Commission is funded jointly by the Nova Scotia Department
of Justice and the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia.
194. The previous Nova Scotia Law Reform Advisory Commission (established
1969) had been allowed to lapse in 1981 when the terms of all the then sitting
members expired. William Hurlburt QC, in his book Law Reform Commissions
in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (1986), believes the reasons for its
demise were financial stringency, a lack of common approach to law reform
between the Commission and the Attorney-General, and the feeling of the
Attorney-General that he could effect through his department whatever law
reform is necessary without being faced with reports from an entity which he did
not control (page 252).
195. This background puts the provisions of the new Act relating to the composition
and powers of the Nova Scotia Commission into perspective:
· A commissioner whose term of office has expired may be re-appointed
(section 5(5)).
· A commissioner whose term of office expires continues to hold office until
a successor is appointed (section 5(6)).