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Law Reform - History

Institutional law reform has waxed and waned in popularity since it began in the 1960s.

Until the 1960s, law reform in common law countries like Australia was mainly undertaken by practising and academic lawyers and judges working part-time for committees.

Establishing a permanent, full-time law reform commission was one of the Labour Party's pre-election policies in the 1964 United Kingdom general election. This policy recognised that government resources could not achieve comprehensive law reform and recognised the importance of law reform being conducted independently of the political agenda of the government of the day.

The Labour Party won the election and established a Law Commission for England and Wales and a separate commission for Scotland. Many other common law countries including Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Hong Kong also established permanent law reform bodies from the 1960s onwards.

During the 1990s, support for law reform commissions diminished in some countries. The Canadian Law Reform Commission was abolished in 1992, along with many of the provincial commissions, and the New Zealand Government commissioned an evaluation of the New Zealand Law Commission in 1999.

Canada established a new law commission in 1997 and the New Zealand evaluation recommended the retention of its commission, but the Canadian commission was once again abolished in 2006.