⁷⁰Sir Ivo r Richardso n, Trends in Judgment Writing in the Court of Appeal, Legal Research Foundation Seminar: 2 March 2001.      ⁷¹J F B urrow s, Statute Law in New Zealand, 3rd ed, Butterworths p 93. 51 in 1960 to 458 in 2000, an increase of 500%.⁷⁰  Any increase in the quantity of law generated by the legislative and judicial branches of government must affect its accessibility.  It is incumbent on governments to provide the best facilities for access that they can. Part 5 Keeping the law up to date: challenges and responses 101 Legislation reflects the values, policies, and literary conventions of the time. For this reason, it can get out of date quickly. That threatens access to justice. What can be done to mitigate the threat?  There are several ways in which statute law can be modernised. Modernisation can be categorised as non-substantive or substantive. Non-substantive modernisation involves consolidation or reprinting. Substantive modernisation  involves  full-scale  reform  designed  to  update  both  the  policy  of legislation as well as its expression. 102 Throughout their short history New Zealand statutes have been both consolidated and reprinted. New Zealand legislation was last consolidated in 1908. The 1908 consolidation reduced the number of public Acts from 806 to 208. As Professor John  Burrows  aptly  describes  it,  “[t]he  1908  consolidation  was  an  impressive achievement. It effectively wiped the slate clean; New Zealand’s statute law may be said to have started afresh in 1908.”⁷¹ 103 In essence, consolidation involves re-enacting in a single principal Act all Acts relating  to  a  particular  subject  without  making  changes  to  the  policy  of  the