The objective of the law of contempt of court is to protect the integrity of the justice system and a defendant’s right to a fair trial. However, the law is vague in scope, uses outdated language and concepts, and is inaccessible to the New...
Our projects
Each project is an area of law or subject matter that the Law Commission has agreed to review. The Commission works on several projects at a time. Together, these projects make up the Commission's annual work programme.
Use the search filters below to find particular projects. For more information on how we work see how we conduct projects.
Project status
- (-) Remove Awaiting Government Response filter Awaiting Government Response
- (-) Remove Calling for submissions filter Calling for submissions
- Discontinued (1) Apply Discontinued filter
- Researching issues (1) Apply Researching issues filter
- Reviewing submissions (1) Apply Reviewing submissions filter
- Open (2) Apply Open filter
- (-) Remove Closed filter Closed
Areas of law
- (-) Remove Courts and Dispute Resolution filter Courts and Dispute Resolution
- (-) Remove Other filter Other
- (-) Remove Family filter Family
- Public (47) Apply Public filter
- Criminal (37) Apply Criminal filter
- Civil (32) Apply Civil filter
- Human Rights (24) Apply Human Rights filter
- Social (21) Apply Social filter
- Commercial (17) Apply Commercial filter
- Evidence (14) Apply Evidence filter
- Property/Trusts (14) Apply Property/Trusts filter
- Customary and Treaty Settlements Law (10) Apply Customary and Treaty Settlements Law filter
- International Law (7) Apply International Law filter
- Consumer (5) Apply Consumer filter
Project status: Closed
Start date 28 February 2012
Last updated 22 February 2017
Section 202(1) of the Evidence Act required the Commission to report to the Minister of Justice on the following matters:
(a) the operation of the provisions of the Act since its commencement;
(b) whether those provisions should be...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 2010
Last updated 29 May 2015
The Judicature Act 1908 is over one hundred years old and has been amended many times. Many of the sections in the Act are outdated, and it contains “hidden” commercial law and judicial review provisions. The focus of the Law Commission’s...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 2010
Last updated 28 September 2016
On this project, the Law Commission undertook a first principles review of the Burial and Cremation Act 1964. The Act’s primary purpose is to ensure provision is made for the burial of the dead in a controlled and respectful manner...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 2009
Last updated 15 June 2016
This project arose from the Commission’s recommendation in their Report, Disclosure to Court of Defendants’ Previous Convictions, Similar Offending, and Bad Character (R103, 2008). The Commission recommended that Government should...
Project status: Closed
Start date 14 March 2009
Last updated 27 May 2015
For this project, the Commission reviews the Trustee Act 1956 and trust law generally. In the first stage of this review, the Report, Review of the Law of Trusts: A Trusts Act for New Zealand (R130) is preceded by six Issues Papers. The...
Project status: Closed
Start date 06 August 2008
Last updated 11 May 2015
More than 20 years have passed since the framework for the sale of liquor laws was established by the 1986 Working Party on Liquor. The resulting Sale of Liquor Act 1989 has been amended many times over the years, and its overall coherence has...
Project status: Closed
Start date 17 October 2007
Last updated 11 May 2015
The Statutes Drafting and Compilation Act 1920 was identified by the Commission as being in need of review as part of its wider assessment of New Zealand Statute Law. A Report was released in 2009.
Project status: Closed
Start date 12 October 2007
Last updated 11 May 2015
This Act has not been reviewed for many years and is out of date in a number of respects. The Act covers a range of interests, including remuneration of the Governor-General, Ministers and Members of Parliament, which make independent...
Project status: Closed
Start date 12 October 2007
Last updated 11 May 2015
The focus of this review is on the criteria and process for the registration and deregistration of private schools under section 35A of the Education Act 1989; the role of ERO in assessing and reviewing schools against those criteria; legislative...