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reason why law reform projects undertaken by the Law Commission should be
restricted to Justice areas, even though the Commission is formally connected to
the Minister of Justice.
287. In many ways the Law Commission Act encourages the Law Commission to
take an Olympian view of the legal system and to stand on the mountaintop
looking into the distance to see what problems the law may encounter further on.
The Law Commission can and does play an important role in such visions. For
example, the Law Commission started the first work on changes in the law as a
result of e-Commerce in New Zealand.
288. While the current Law Commission has undertaken a number of smaller and
more modest projects than the larger references the original Law Commission
started with, the capacity of the Commission to undertake work of a
fundamental character in new areas ought to be considered by Government.
In part, the Commissions new approach has been born, so far as the evaluator
can see, of some despondency about whether its larger projects will be taken up
by the Government and placed on its legislative programme.
289. If the perceived impediments to the implementation of Law Commission Reports
can be overcome as a result of the recommendations in this Report, this will
broaden the scope for the Law Commission to undertake large projects in wider
areas of the law.
290. But the work of the Commission will always involve, in the view of the
evaluator, a balance of large and small projects.