Kei te tūrama arotahi
In the spotlight
Third review of the Evidence Act 2006 – report published
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission has published its final report on Te Arotake Tuatoru i te Evidence Act 2006 | The Third Review of the Evidence Act 2006. This completes our final statutory review of the operation of the provisions of the Act. The report sets out our findings from the review and makes recommendations for reform.
Related project
The third review of the Evidence Act 2006Ngā mahi o te wā
Current work
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
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission is examining 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.
Visit projectHapori 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
We are reviewing the laws protecting the public from offenders who pose significant risks through preventive detention, extended supervision orders and public protection orders.
Visit projectHe arotake i te ture mō ngā huarahi whakatau a ngā pakeke
Review of adult decision-making capacity law
Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission is reviewing how the law should respond when an adult’s decision-making is affected.
Visit projectWhakaputanga
Our publications
Our publications are available for free online. Browse or search for publications.
The Commission has several series of publications, some of which are now historical:
- Reports (NZLC R1 onwards) – Our law reform reports summarise the issues with the law under review, report on the feedback received from consultations and make recommendations for the reform and development of the law. Our reports are presented to the Minister responsible for the Law Commission and to Parliament.
- Issues papers (NZLC IP1 onwards) – These provide detail of the current state of the law under review, discuss the issues with it and invite consultation on questions posed and potential proposals for reform. Sometimes, if a law reform project is large and the issues complex, multiple issues papers may be published. A project may also publish an issues paper following initial public consultation that presents a preferred approach to reform and asks for further feedback. These publications are not presented to Parliament.
- Preliminary papers (NZLC PP1 onwards) – This series initially included any paper published preliminary to a final report, but, over time, other publication series replaced it. The series was discontinued in 2006. These publications were not presented to Parliament.
- Study papers (NZLC SP1 onwards) – A range of types of papers is published under this series. It predominantly includes papers establishing a conceptual framework and/or providing background research or educative material on an area of law, sometimes published as the output of a project that was not intended to produce a final report or as a reference paper for a wider project. It has also included publications of advice given to other government departments on specific matters. These publications are not presented to Parliament.
- Miscellaneous papers (NZLC MP1 onwards) – This series was similar to the Study Paper series in that a range of types of publications were published under it, including less formal consultation papers and reference papers. No miscellaneous paper has been published since 2007. These publications were not presented to Parliament.
- Ministerial briefings (NZLC MB1 onwards) – This publication type has been used to provide further advice subsequent to a final report, to report our findings on a discrete aspect of a review before the publication of a final report or to fast-track advice in a manner that would not be possible in our usual full review process.
- Corporate information – These are publications relating to the Commission, such as our annual reports, statement of intent/performance expectations and briefings to the incoming minister.
We also sometimes publish supplementary documents, such as summaries, appendices or easy-to-read materials, alongside our papers. These are not included under any publication series but can be found on the webpage of their related project.
What we do
We identify issues with the law, research them deeply, engage with people to discover more, and recommend improvements.
What happens to our work
The Government considers our advice and decides whether to implement our recommendations for law reform.
Past work
With over 120 final reports to date, the Commission has been working to improve the law since 1987.