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 Many of the sections in the Act are outdated, and it contains “hidden” commercial law and judicial review provisions.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...
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
Areas of law
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- Courts and Dispute Resolution (40) Apply Courts and Dispute Resolution filter
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- Other (30) Apply Other filter
- Family (21) Apply Family filter
- Commercial (18) Apply Commercial filter
- Property/Trusts (15) Apply Property/Trusts filter
- Customary and Treaty Settlements Law (10) Apply Customary and Treaty Settlements Law filter
- International Law (6) Apply International Law filter
- Consumer (5) Apply Consumer filter
For this project, the Commission reviews existing rules of evidence around admissibility of previous convictions, similar offending and bad character. In particular, the extent to which the court is made aware of prior convictions of an accused,...
This project reviews existing rules providing access to Court records and developing principles to govern access to Court records, the retention and archiving of records. It considers the appropriateness of a single code providing rules for all...
The purpose of this project is to review the legal framework for adoption in New Zealand as set out in the Adoption Act 1955 and the Adult Adoption Information Act 1985, and to recommend whether and how the framework should be modified to better...
This project examines and reviews that part of the Accident Compensation Act 1982 which recognises and is intended to promote the general principles of community responsibility, comprehensive entitlement, complete rehabilitation, real...
This purpose of this project is to advise whether compensation should be paid to those who have been wrongly prosecuted or convicted of an offence, and if so, to recommend a systematic basis upon which compensation may be determined and paid.
The purpose of the Evidence Law projects is to to make the law of evidence as clear, simple and accessible as practicable, and to facilitate the fair, just and speedy judicial resolution of disputes. In particular, this project examines the...
The topic of this project has two related issues, each of fundamental importance to New Zealanders. One is whether New Zealand women are treated properly by the legal system. That raises in turn a second issue – whether the New Zealand citizen...
This project involved an examination of the existing mechanisms for compensating victims of crime for harm, loss or damage suffered as the result of that crime. The project considered the adequacy of these mechanisms and made proposals for any...
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 review...