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The operational template
How do you go about it well how long is a piece of string? A law reform body has to
be flexible, innovative, creative and sensible. Generally, however, there is a template
which will be influential:
a)
What is the law in the area?
b)
What are the problems or deficiencies that exist?
c)
What could be done to meet those problems?
d)
What is recommended and why?
The variations on the theme are extraordinary, but I suggest those bases must all be
covered. It is an intellectual process, rooted in integrity, free of bias or prejudice and
rigorously committed to improvement. Access to the law is the ultimate goal and all our
activities and processes should be influenced accordingly.
A final word. There is a difficult issue about whether a body like a law commission
should become involved in reviewing or reporting on fundamental constitutional
change.
New Zealands founding constitutional document is the Treaty of Waitangi which was
signed in 1840 between the indigenous Maori and the British Crown. What rights and
responsibilities it created is hotly debated. The European settlers did not much heed it
or honour its commitments in any appreciable way for many decades. When I was at
law school we were taught that the Treaty of Waitangi had no legal force as it was a
document which had never been incorporated into domestic law.