6
·
Electronic Transactions Act 2000 and electronic commerce legislation;
·
The Companies Act 1993;
·
Coroners Bill (in front of Parliament);
·
The Arbitration Act 1996;
·
Reform of Juries (in front of Parliament as part of the Criminal Procedure
Bill);
·
Personal Property Securities Act 1999;
·
The Interpretation Act 1999 and plain English drafting;
·
Reports on the format, structure and style of legislation;
·
The Evidence Bill (in front of Parliament).
15
In addition to legislative proposals, the Commission has produced many
background papers and other reports intended to be used as resource in legal and
departmental circles. Some of these have had a major impact: for example A New
Zealand Guide to International Law and its sources 1996; The Treaty Making
Process Reform and the Role of Parliament 1997. The Commission’s report
“Legislation Manual Structure and Style” largely the work of the late Dr Bill
Sewell has to a considerable extent been adopted by the Parliamentary Counsel
Office and influenced the style in which modern statutes are now drafted.4
4
As George Tanner QC puts it in his 2003 paper “Confronting the Process of Statute Making” (New
Zealand Legal Method Seminar, Auckland, 16 May 2003) 23:
“Throughout the 1990s, the New Zealand Law Commission embarked on a series of initiatives
designed to change the language and format of New Zealand legislation. It did so in line with one
of the Commission’s statutory functions of advising the Minister of Justice on ways in which the
law of New Zealand can be made as understandable and accessible as practicable. The Commission
published 3 reports relating to interpretation, format, and the structure and style of legislation.……
Report No 17 A New Interpretation Act To Avoid “Prolixity and Tautology” : NZLC R17 (1990),
Report 27 The Format of Legislation: NZLC R27 (1993), Report No 35 Legislation Manual
Structure and Style: NZLC R35 (1996)”.
