7 In our recently constituted Supreme Court of 5 members, the Chief Justice is a former Law   Commissioner,   Sir   Kenneth   Keith   is   a   former   President   and   Justice   Peter Blanchard  is  also  a  former  Commissioner.    Margaret  Wilson,  until  earlier  this  month Attorney-General  of  New  Zealand  and  now  Speaker  of  the  New  Zealand  House  of Representatives,  is  a  former  Law  Commissioner.    In  my  almost  4  years  as  President, two  of  the  Commissioners  have  been  appointed  as  High  Court  Judges³⁰ and one as a District Court Judge³¹.  This pattern is certainly not unusual.  Presidents of the English Law Commission have almost invariably gone to the Court of Appeal and some later to the   House   of   Lords.   In   Australia   about   10   Commissioners   have   become   Judges, including a Chief Justice of Australia³² and a Chief Justice of New South Wales³³. Notwithstanding  this  pattern,  and  the  specific  legislative  provisions  in  New  Zealand anticipating and permitting judicial involvement, there was an interesting challenge last year  to  me  as  President  of  the  Law  Commission  sitting  as  a  member  of  our  Court  of Appeal. The issue was raised as an appeal point only in the Privy Council and was on the basis that it was a derogation from the doctrine of separation of powers.  The Privy Council  was  insufficiently  troubled  by  the  argument  that  it  did  not  grant  leave  for  the point  to  be  argued³⁴.  The  issue  has  been  raised  again  in  civil  proceedings  which  are currently pending before the New Zealand Courts. Questions arise as to whether all Commissioners should or need to be legally qualified.   Currently one of the New Zealand Commissioners does not have a law degree  – he is a retired university academic and was appointed, at least in part, because he was of Maori descent³⁵.                                                     30   Hon Justice Patrick Keane and Hon Justice Paul Heath 31   Judge Vivienne Ullrich 32   Sir Gerard Brennan, Chief Justice 1995-98 33   The Honourable James Jacob Spige lman, Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1998 34   The  appeal  was  heard  and  determined  on  15  January  2004  by  Lord  Hoffman,   Baroness  Hale of Richmond and Lord Steyn 35   Professor Ngatata Love QSO, Commissioner 2001-