The purpose of this project is to provide advice on whether existing classes of preferred creditors should continue to enjoy advantages over unsecured creditors when bankruptcy or liquidation intervened. The request for advice was made in the...
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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Project status: Closed
Start date 12 April 1999
Last updated 11 May 2015
Over the past two years the Law Commission has been examining various aspects of the law affected by electronic commerce. Our work seeks to ascertain whether any changes to the law are needed to fit the electronic environment in which much...
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 February 1998
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project deals with five separate insurance law problem areas. These are: the rule of disclosure of relevant facts; insurers of provisions requiring notification of claims within certain time limits; the unfair use of provisions excluding...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 March 1992
Last updated 11 May 2015
In consultation with officials of the Ministry of Justice and others, the Commission considers, in this project, whether New Zealand should accept the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and give effect to...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 October 1989
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project consists of seminars that focus on and provoke discussion of the underlying objectives and overall coherence of the reforms of various laws affecting intellectual property.
Project status: Closed
Start date 03 December 1987
Last updated 11 May 2015
In October 1997 the Law Commission started a new project on the subject of international trade. This is the first of four reports which will deal with international trade issues. It addresses, in a preliminary way, the subject of electronic...
Project status: Closed
Start date 24 August 2001
Last updated 11 May 2015
This project examines the law of general discovery. The essential issue is on whether and how the virtues of the existing rules as to general discovery could be preserved while at the same time eliminating waste and extravagance from the process...
Project status: Closed
Start date 13 October 2010
Last updated 11 May 2015
The Commission has undertaken a review of the current regulatory environment for the news media with respect to its adequacy in catering for new and emerging forms of news media – sometimes referred to as the “new media”.
The 3 questions...
Project status: Closed
Start date 01 July 2007
Last updated 11 May 2015
The Law Commission, in conjunction with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), reviewed the Land Transfer Act 1952 and amendment Acts. An Issues Paper (IP10) was published in October 2008. The aim of the review was to modernise and streamline the...