4 in  some  cases,  after  a  gap  of  some  years,  new  entities  have  been  established  in  their place.¹⁶ In Australia there was vigorous advocacy in the late 19^th Century for action to deal with the complex, ponderous and isolating nature of the law although nothing concrete was established  at  a  national  level  until  the  Law  Reform  Commission  in  1975  under  the visionary  and  potent  Chairmanship  of  Justice  Michael  Kirby.  He  has  continued  in  the ensuing  30  years  to  be  a  major  voice  for  law  reform  in  his  own  country  and  abroad.   There  had  been  various  entities  in  some  States  and  many  of  the  States  in  Australia continue to have law reform bodies¹⁷. The history of law reform in your own country is interesting.  Your Commission in its current form was established in 1973 as the South African Law Commission (changed to its present name in 2002)¹⁸, but for a couple of decades prior to that time there was a Law Revision Committee of about 20 members¹⁹.  As well as producing reports which lead  to  specific  legislative  enactments  in  areas  as  diverse  as  the  apportionment  of damages,  presumption  and  suretyship,  there  was  valuable  work  undertaken  in  making the common law more accessible by translations from Latin and Dutch. With only very busy part-timers and no permanent secretarial base, progress was inevitably limited. My country frequently claims to be a place of innovation and experiment.  Whether the reality  at  all  periods  in  our  history  is  as  impressive  as  the  rhetoric  may  be  open  to debate,  but  there  are  matters  which  we  can  point  to  with  pride  some  movements including Family Protection legislation at the beginning of the 20^th Century²⁰, the first                                                  16   The Law Reform Commission of Canada was abolished in 1992.  The current Law Commission of Canada was established on 1 July 1997. 17   Australian Law Reform Commission “20 Years of Law Reform” (ALRC, Sydney, 199  6) 18   South African Law Reform Commission Thirtieth Annual Report 2002/2003 19   William  Henegan,  Chief  Director  of  the  Law  Reform  Commission,  South  Africa,  to  the  author, January 2005, Email 20   Family Homes Protection Act 1895, to become the Joint Family Homes Acts 1908, 1950 and 1964 (Peter  Spiller,  Jeremy  Finn  and  Richard  Boast   A  New  Zealand  Legal  History  (2  ed,  Brookers, Wellington, 2001) 89)