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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.

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Ia Tangata | A Review of the Protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics

Project status: Researching issues Start date 16 January 2023 Last updated 02 August 2023

In this project, Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission will examine the protections in the Human Rights Act 1993 for people who are transgender, people who are non-binary and people with innate variations of sex characteristics.

The...

Legal Responses to Hate

Project status: Start date 18 November 2022 Last updated 26 May 2023

Work has not yet begun on this project.

Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission has been asked to undertake a review of legal responses to hate. The Commission has been asked to consider how the law should respond to hate-...

Hapori whānui me te tangata mōrea nui: he arotake o te mauhere ārai hē me ngā ōta nō muri whakawhiu | Public safety and serious offenders: a review of preventive detention and post-sentence orders

Project status: Reviewing submissions Start date 01 July 2022 Last updated 07 August 2023

Aotearoa New Zealand has laws aimed at protecting the public from reoffending risks posed by some offenders convicted of serious crimes. These laws enable the detention or supervision of those offenders beyond a fixed-term prison sentence (...

He Arotake i te Ture mō ngā Huarahi Whakatau a ngā Pakeke | Review of Adult Decision-Making Capacity Law

Project status: Researching issues Start date 06 October 2021 Last updated 01 September 2023

Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission is reviewing how the law should respond when an adult’s decision-making is affected.

 

...

Emergency powers for pandemics and other threats

Project status: Closed Start date 09 April 2021 Last updated 11 November 2022

Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission commissioned Professor Janet McLean KC to write a Study Paper concerning Aotearoa New Zealand’s legal and institutional framework for pandemics and other threats. Building on the Commission’s Final...

Te Kōpū Whāngai: He Arotake | Review of Surrogacy

Project status: Closed Start date 23 November 2020 Last updated 08 March 2023

The Government has asked Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission to conduct a review of surrogacy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This review is a comprehensive examination of surrogacy law, regulation and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. The...

Review of Succession Law

Project status: Closed Start date 18 December 2019 Last updated 27 June 2022

The Law Commission will review the law of succession. The law of succession is the system of rules that governs who gets a person’s property when they die.

In July 2019 the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission requested that the...

Second Review of the Evidence Act 2006

Project status: Closed Start date 20 February 2017 Last updated 03 September 2019

For nearly 30 years the Law Commission has been engaged in reforming the law of evidence in New Zealand. 

In August 1989 the Minister of Justice asked the Commission to review all evidence law to make it as clear, simple and accessible as...

Declaratory Judgments

Project status: Discontinued Start date 27 July 2016 Last updated 06 April 2021

The declaratory judgment is an important judicial remedy.  It provides an efficient and effective means by which parties can clarify and establish their legal rights and obligations, without the need for further remedies. There is, however,...

The Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations

Project status: Closed Start date 27 July 2016 Last updated 25 May 2021

The forensic analysis of DNA is a powerful tool in solving crime. However, the use of DNA in criminal investigations also raises important legal and ethical issues.

In New Zealand the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995...

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