Press Release
Strengthened constitutional role for the Law Commission
25 March 2008
In his Ministerial Statement to Parliament today on the Constitutional Renewal White Paper the Lord Chancellor said “For 40 years the Law Commission has played a vital role … but I intend to strengthen its role by placing a statutory duty on the Lord Chancellor to report annually to Parliament on the Government’s intentions regarding outstanding Law Commission recommendations and provide statutory backing for the arrangements underpinning the way Government works with the Law Commission.”
Sir Terence Etherton, Chairman of the Law Commission, welcomed the Lord Chancellor’s announcement and commented:
“I greatly welcome the Lord Chancellor’s statement of his intention to bring forward proposals to place a statutory duty on the Lord Chancellor to report annually to Parliament on the Government’s intentions regarding outstanding Law Commission recommendations and to provide statutory backing to the arrangements underpinning the way Government works with the Law Commission.
Those proposals are part of a package of reforms by Government to take forward the vision of the founders of the Law Commission. That vision was to promote the right of the citizen to law, which is accessible, intelligible and in accordance with modern needs by a permanent independent body tasked to keep the law under review. The Lord Chancellor’s proposal, together with other current proposals, would, if implemented, constitute the most important structural changes in the relationship between the Commission and Parliament and the Executive since the establishment of the Commission in 1965. They would improve significantly the promotion of the citizen’s right to accessible and intelligible law through the process of independent law reform.”
For further details of the Commission’s work go to www.lawcom.gov.uk
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