The purpose of this project is to protect members of the public from substantial risk of harm from individuals whose release into the community would pose that risk. The project considers: relevant provisions in the Mental Health (Compulsory...
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
- (-) Remove Civil filter Civil
- (-) Remove Social filter Social
- (-) Remove Customary and Treaty Settlements Law filter Customary and Treaty Settlements Law
- Public (50) Apply Public filter
- Courts and Dispute Resolution (40) Apply Courts and Dispute Resolution filter
- Criminal (39) Apply Criminal filter
- Other (33) Apply Other filter
- Human Rights (28) Apply Human Rights filter
- Family (23) Apply Family filter
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- Property/Trusts (16) Apply Property/Trusts filter
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Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 1996
Last updated 11 May 2015
The purpose of this project is to give fuller effect to the principle that the State is under the law and to ensure that as far as practicable legal procedures relating to and remedies against the Crown (as representing the State) are the same as...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 1996
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project reviews the law of succession. This is the law which governs how a person's property is to be dealt with when they die.
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 1996
Last updated 11 May 2015
This is the Commission's second report directly on matters pertaining to New Zealand's international obligations. The purpose of the project is assist members of Parliament and public with both broad background information and focused direction...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 September 1997
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project raises a question about a discrete aspect of the law of contract: whether or not to repeal the rules in the Contracts Enforcement Act 1956 that to be enforceable land contracts and guarantees must be in writing that is signed by the...
Project status: Closed
Start date 17 November 1997
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project examines the response of the legal system to the experiences of women in New Zealand, recognising the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi in the examination of Maori women's experiences.
Project status: Closed
Start date 03 April 1998
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project examines and reviews the law relating the apportionment of civil liability. The measure we propose includes changes enacted for England and Wales in 1978 and first proposed for New Zealand in 1983. Our proposed statute will right...
Project status: Closed
Start date 06 May 1998
Last updated 21 August 2015
In October 1997 the Law Commission started a new project on the subject of international trade with the project’s first report, Electronic Commerce Part One: A Guide for the Legal and Business Community (NZLC R50) released a year later. This is...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 June 1998
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project is a response to the Lange v Atkinson decision. Mr Lange, a former prime minister of New Zealand, claims damages for defamation from the author of an article published in a monthly magazine with a New Zealand-wide circulation and...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 1998
Last updated 11 May 2015
In 1997, the Law Commission was approached by the Securities Commission and invited to consider the law relating to retirement villages, as part of a wider project relating to the marketing of undivided interests in land, which would have the...