The Work of the Law Commission Incorporating the Twelfth Programme the Law Commission

The Work of the Law Commission Incorporating the Twelfth Programme The Law Commission

The Work of the Law Commission Incorporating the Twelfth Programme

August 2016

The Law Commission was set up by the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law.

The Law Commissioners are:  The Right Honourable Lord Justice Bean, Chairman  Professor Nick Hopkins  Stephen Lewis  Professor David Ormerod QC  Nicholas Paines QC

The Chief Executive of the Law Commission is Phillip Golding.

The Law Commission is located at 1st Floor Tower, 52 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AG.

This document is available on the Law Commission’s website at www.lawcom.gov.uk

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Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Contents

INTRODUCTION 1 About the Law Commission 1 Law reform in Wales 2 LAW REFORM PROJECTS YEAR BY YEAR 5 LAW REFORM PROJECTS 8 Bills of sale 8 Charity law, selected issues 8 Consumer prepayments on retailer insolvency 9 Contempt of court 10 Electoral law 11 Event fees (previously known as transfer of title and change of occupancy fees in leaseholds) 12 Family financial orders – enforcement 13 Firearms 14 Form and accessibility of the law applicable in Wales 14 Insurance contract law 15 Land registration 17 Marriage 18 Mental capacity and deprivation of liberty 18 Misconduct in public office 19 Planning and development control in Wales 19 Protection of official Government data 20 Sentencing code 20 Unfitness to plead 21 Wills 22 STATUTE LAW 24 Consolidation 24 Statute law repeals 24 20th century legislation 24 British India 25 Churches 25

Introduction “Outside of Parliament itself and the Departments of State it is probably true to say that no body has had greater impact on the law and the lives of our About this document citizens than the Law Commission since its creation in 1965.” This report provides an overview of our current The Rt Hon Lord Justice Etherton, Chancellor of work, including projects from the 12th the High Court. Evidence to the 2013 Triennial Programme of Law Reform and ongoing Review of the Law Commission. projects from previous programmes. For each project, we explain why we believe there is a need for law reform in the area, and summarise Who we are the potential impact and benefits of reform. The Law Commission is headed by a Chairman About the Law Commission and four Commissioners, all of whom are appointed by the Lord Chancellor. At 1 October The Law Commission of England and Wales is 2015, the Law Commissioners were: an advisory, non-departmental public body  The Rt Hon Lord Justice Bean, Chairman which was created by the Law Commissions Act 1965, and forms part of the family of  Professor Nick Hopkins, Property, Family Ministry of Justice arm’s-length bodies. and Trust Law Our role is to review areas of the law and make  Stephen Lewis, Commercial and Common recommendations for change, with the aim of Law ensuring that the law is as simple, accessible,  Professor David Ormerod QC, Criminal Law fair, modern and cost-effective as possible. Our remit includes codification and consolidation of  Nicholas Paines QC, Public Law the law, removal of anomalies and the repeal of The Commissioners are led by a Chief obsolete and unnecessary legislation. Executive, and supported by the staff of the Over the years we have established a Law Commission plus a team of research reputation for excellence at home and abroad assistants. for our expertise in tackling technically complex areas of the law, for the thoroughness of our Our stakeholders research and the wide-ranging nature of our Our work is supported by a wide range of consultations. stakeholders. Their input and expertise helps us Underpinning the way we work is our to ensure that our projects are robust, and that independence from Government and the they we are taking into account the full range of objective way in which we conduct ourselves. views and opinions on any given aspect of the Stakeholders tell us that it is this strong ethos that law. Our main stakeholders include the sets us apart as an organisation. It means that the judiciary, parliamentarians, legal experts, public can be confident that proposals will be subject experts from the third and private considered impartially, and that we will always sectors and academia, the public sector, seek the best solutions, free from any political government officials and ministers. We also bias. work with our sponsor department the Ministry of Justice, other Law Commissions, schools and universities and the general public.

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The Law Commission Act 2009 Law reform in Wales

Looking back over our work since the Law A Protocol between the Law Commission and Commission was established in 1965, around Welsh Ministers was laid before the National 69 per cent of the law reform reports we have Assembly for Wales on 10 July 2015. produced have been implemented either in The Protocol, which was signed on 2 July, sets whole or in part. However, in recent years there out the approach that the Commission and have been concerns that implementation rates Welsh Ministers will jointly take to the are falling. Commission’s law reform work in relation to The Law Commission Act 2009 sets out some Welsh devolved matters. It covers how the practical ways of tackling this issue, ensuring relationship will work throughout all the stages that reports are considered and implemented in of a project, from our decision to take on a a timely and efficient way. First, it places a piece of work, through to the Ministers’ requirement on the Lord Chancellor to deliver response to our final report and an annual report to Parliament outlining the recommendations. Government’s progress in implementing our The Wales Act 2014, which amended the Law reports. Commissions Act 1965 to take account of Second, a Protocol was introduced in March Welsh devolution, provided for the Protocol to 2010 which stated that the Law Commission be agreed. The Act also empowers the would not take on a project without an Commission to give information and advice to undertaking by the relevant minister that there Welsh Ministers, and enables Welsh Ministers is a serious intention to take forward law reform to refer law reform projects directly to the in that area. It also requires the relevant Commission. minister to provide an interim response within In a direct reflection of the obligations placed on six months of a report being published, and a the Lord Chancellor by the Law Commission final response within a year. Act 2009, the Wales Act 2014 also requires Third, in October 2010 the House of Lords Welsh Ministers to report annually to the approved a new parliamentary procedure for Assembly about the implementation of our “uncontroversial” Law Commission Bills. This reports relating to Welsh devolved matters. procedure allows for the Second Reading of In 2013 we set up a Welsh Advisory Committee technical and politically non-controversial Law to give the people of Wales a stronger voice in Commission Bills to be taken off the floor of the law reform and help us continue to act as an House, enabling valuable legislation that has effective law reform body for both England and previously found it difficult to secure a place in the Wales. The Committee advises on the exercise main legislative programme to proceed to the of our statutory functions in relation to Wales, statute book. and helps us to identify the law reform needs of Wales and to understand who we should be “[The Law Commission] is unique, carrying out engaging and working with to bring reform a much needed task. It has set a model for the about. rest of the world in independence, scholarship, The two Welsh projects of the 12th Programme pragmatism and success. There is a real are the first Wales-only projects ever conducted danger that law would stagnate without it.” by the Law Commission. The Baroness Deech DBE MA HonLLd. Evidence to the 2013 Triennial Review of the Law Commission.

2 | The work of the Law Commission How we work statute law repeals work helps to save time and costs for practitioners who work with the law and others who need to use it, and makes it Law reform easier for citizens to access justice. Every three or four years we consult widely, Since 1965, 19 Statute Law Repeals Bills have asking for suggestions for appropriate law been enacted, repealing more than 3,000 Acts reform projects. Although we have a duty to in their entirety and thousands more in part. On “take and keep under review all the law”, it is 3 June 2015, we published our 20th Statute important that our efforts are directed towards Law Repeals Report with a Bill that we hope will areas of the law that most need reform and be introduced into Parliament at the earliest towards reforms that are most likely to be opportunity. As social and technological change implemented, in line with the 2010 Protocol. continue to be reflected in new legislation, so There should be a focus on change that will the need for systematic and expert review of deliver real benefits to people, businesses, older legislation will remain. organisations and institutions. Consolidation We also undertake law reform projects that have been referred to us directly by Over 200 consolidation Acts have been enacted Government Departments, giving us the since the Commission was established in 1965. flexibility to respond to pressing issues that The aim of this work is to make statute law emerge outside the cycle of our programme. more accessible and comprehensible; it can have real practical benefits. Before starting a law reform project, we will agree terms of reference with the relevant Department A consolidation Bill draws together different and, in some cases, set one or more review enactments on the same subject to produce a points. This provide an opportunity to stop and single statutory text while preserving the effect look at whether there is still a need for a of the current law. The text usually replaces substantive law reform project in the light of the provisions in a number of different Acts or research and analysis carried out so far. instruments. But a good consolidation does much more than produce an updated text. The cumulative effect of amendments and new law “The Government holds the excellent work of can distort the structure of legislation. the Law Commission in very high regard and Consolidation will make it more rational and the progress we have made during this past intelligible. It will also aim to remove obsolete year demonstrates the continued relevance and material, modernise language and resolve resilience of the Commission’s work.” minor inconsistencies or ambiguities that have The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, Lord Chancellor. arisen. Report on the Implementation of the Law Commission Proposals Jan 2013 to Jan 2014, Implementation May 2014. Crucial to the implementation of our consolidation and statute law repeals Bills is a Statute law dedicated parliamentary procedure. The Bills are introduced into the House of Lords and, Consolidation of statute law and the repeal of after Lords Second Reading, are scrutinised by statutes that are obsolete or no longer serve the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills, any useful purpose have been important which was appointed by both Houses functions of the Law Commission since its specifically to consider consolidation and creation. statute law repeal Bills, before returning to the Statute law repeals House of Lords for the remaining stages. By modernising the statute book and leaving it clearer, shorter and more accessible, our

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This process ensures that the Bills take up a appropriate, we act in consultation or work jointly minimum of parliamentary time on the floor of with the Northern Ireland Law Commission and each House and that they should always be the Scottish Law Commission. enacted once introduced. At the end of the consultation period, we will make our recommendations in a report to Consultation government. These could be in the form of Some projects begin with a scoping or guidance, advice to government, or law reform discussion paper, in order to help us recommendations. In cases where understand the key issues, identify interested implementation would require primary parties and establish the extent of the project. legislation, the report will usually contain a Bill Then, following initial research, we publish a drafted by Parliamentary Counsel. The report is consultation paper outlining the problems with laid before Parliament, and it is then for the current law and setting out provisional Government to decide whether to accept the proposals for reform. recommendations and introduce any necessary Bill, often working in partnership with the We are committed to consulting fully with all Commissioner, members of the relevant legal stakeholders that could potentially be affected by team and the Parliamentary Counsel who our proposals. The consultation stage includes drafted the Bill. meetings with individuals and organisations, public events, conferences and symposia. We often work in partnership with representative organisations in order to reach their members and stakeholders.

Why consultation matters Consultation is the cornerstone of our law reform projects, and is critical to the final outcome. Wide- ranging consultation allows us to gain an in-depth, up-to-date and thorough understanding of an area of law, the problems that arise and how they are experienced by the courts, legal practitioners and other interested parties, including business, the voluntary sector and members of the public. The result of our consultation process is virtually always to produce a more effective set of final recommendations. “It is the responses of consultees which is a vital part of the dynamics of law reform.”

Stephen Worthington QC, Chairman, Law Reform Committee, Bar Council, letter to the Chairman.

We ask consultees to submit formal, written responses through a choice of different channels, including online. All the responses we receive are analysed and considered carefully. They are published, either separately or in the final project report. Throughout the process, where

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Law reform projects year by year

The following table shows the projects on which the Law Commission will be working during each year. Shading indicates the years during which the project is expected to run. Not all projects are full-term law reform projects. Some are scoping exercises only; some are conducted in phases, with review points at which the Commission and lead Department take stock and decide whether to move on to the next phase.

Name of project Lead department Key dates 2014 2015 2016 2017 Bills of sale HM Treasury Start: summer 2014 Consultation: September 2015 Conclude: law reform recommendations, summer 2016 Charity law, selected issues Office for Civil Society, Start: April 2013 Cabinet Office Consultation: (1) April 2014 ; (2) March 2015 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill, end 2016 Consumer prepayments on Department for Business, Start: summer 2014 retailer insolvency Innovation and Skills Consultation: June 2015 Conclude: scoping report, autumn 2016 Contempt of court Ministry of Justice Start: May 2012 Consultation: (1) Scandalising the court, August 2012; (2) Contempt generally, November 2012 Conclude: end-2016 Electoral law Cabinet Office Start: 2011 Scoping consultation: June 2012 Consultation: December 2014 Interim report: February 2016 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill, 2017 Event fees (previously Department for Communities Start: October 2014 known as transfer of title and and Local Government Consultation: October 2015 change of occupancy fees in Review point: interim law reform review, summer 2016 leaseholds)

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Name of project Lead department Key dates 2014 2015 2016 2017 Family financial orders, Ministry of Justice Start: March 2014 enforcement Consultation: March 2015 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill end 2016 Firearms Home Office Start: early 2015 Consultation: July 2015 Conclude: scoping report, December 2015; wider codification project under consideration Form and accessibility of the Welsh Government Start: summer 2014 law applicable in Wales Consultation: July 2015 Conclude: advice to Government, summer 2016 Insurance contract law HM Treasury Start: 2006 Consultation: (1) Misrepresentation, non-disclosure and breach of warranty by the insured, July 2007; (2) Post- contract duties and other issues, December 2011; (3) The business insured’s duty of disclosure and law of warranties, June 2012. This has resulted in Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 and Insurance Act 2015. Our recommendations relating to late payment were implemented in the Enterprise Act 2016. Conclude: summer 2016 Land registration Department for Business, Start: spring 2015 Innovation and Skills; Land Consultation: March 2016 Registry Conclude: recommendations and draft Bill, late 2017 Marriage Ministry of Justice Start: Early 2015 Conclude: scoping report, December 2015 Mental capacity and Department of Health Start: summer 2014 deprivation of liberty Consultation: July 2015 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill end 2016

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Name of project Lead department Key dates 2014 2015 2016 2017 Misconduct in public office Ministry of Justice Start: summer 2014 Consultation: January 2016 Conclude: law reform recommendations, spring 2016

Planning and development Welsh Government Start: summer 2014 control in Wales Scoping paper: summer 2016 Consult: early 2017 Conclude: law reform recommendations Protection of official Cabinet Office Start: February 2016 Government data Consultation: Sept – Dec 2016 Conclude: report end February 2017

Sentencing code Ministry of Justice Start: January 2015 Initial consultation: July-August 2015 Current law consultation: Oct 2015-Apr 2016 Main consultation: summer 2017 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill, 2018/19 Unfitness to plead Ministry of Justice Start: 2010 Consultation: October 2010 Issues paper: May 2014 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill, early 2016 Wills Ministry of Justice Start: 2015 Consultation: Spring 2017 Conclude: law reform recommendations and draft Bill, end 2018

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Law reform projects to give consumers the standard protections associated with other forms of credit, such as hire purchase. All bills of sale must be registered, but the system is paper-based Bills of sale and inefficient. A voluntary code of conduct, which came into force in February Source: 12th Programme 2011, seems to have had little impact on lenders’ behaviour. Lead Department: HM Treasury Start: Summer 2014 There are good reasons to believe that the use of bills of sale will continue to increase, Consultation: September 2015 and with it consumers’ need for protection. Scheduled completion: Summer 2016 This project reviews the existing legislation Outcome: Law reform recommendations and registration regime for bills of sale, which has been described as “untenable” by the Citizens Advice Bureau, with the aim of A bill of sale is a way for people to use their modernising and simplifying the law. It also existing goods as security for a loan. A looks at the growing use of bills of sale in the common example is the so-called “logbook consumer credit market, with a view to loan”, where a person hands over the providing borrowers with greater protection. ownership document for their vehicle, while continuing to use it. This often happens where the borrower cannot access credit Charity law, selected issues from mainstream lenders. Source: 11th Programme The use of bills of sale has grown dramatically, from 2,840 in 2001 to 38,000 Lead Department: Office for Civil Society, in 2008, and it seems likely that their use Cabinet Office will continue to grow. The complexity of the Start: April 2013 law in this area means that consumers and Consultation(1): Social investments, April businesses rarely understand the to June 2014 implications of using bills of sale; in any Consultation(2):Technical Issues in Charity case, the existing legislation offers them Law, March to July 2015 little protection. Scheduled completion: 2016 Interest rates can be in excess of 500 per Outcome: Law reform recommendations cent APR; if the borrower fails to make the and draft Bill repayments, the property can be seized without notice. It is very difficult to tell whether a piece of property is subject to a This project looks at a range of issues bill of sale, so purchasers can be left out of concerning how charities are constituted and pocket. All of these issues have a how their activities are regulated. One part disproportionate impact on the most looks at the way charities incorporated by vulnerable in society, who can find it hard Royal Charter and by Act of Parliament to access properly regulated credit, and on amend their governing documents, while the small businesses experiencing short-term rest comprises issues arising from Lord cash flow problems. Hodgson’s 2012 review of the Charities Act 2006 that were referred to us by the Office The law covering this area is set out in the for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office. One of Bills of Sale Acts 1878 and 1882, and is these issues is whether the law is clear complex, arcane and out-dated. It imposes enough with regard to charity trustees’ unnecessary costs on businesses, but fails powers and duties when making social investments.

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Social investment Government to our other recommendations on social investment by charities. A “social investment” is one that delivers a financial return at the same time as helping Technical issues the charity achieve its specific goals. Examples include offering low-interest Our second consultation paper covers the loans to start-up businesses, buying empty remaining areas of the project, including: properties in order to let them at low cost to the power of charities to amend their homeless people and investing in medical governing documents; the obligations on research or green technologies. charity trustees when they sell land; Social investment is an important and restrictions on spending; ex gratia developing area for charities, enabling payments; mergers, incorporations and them to combine investment with direct insolvencies; the powers of the Chariity spending so that they are generating more Tribunal. resources at the same time as pursuing their objectives. Charities registered with Consumer prepayments on the Charity Commission hold combined retailer insolvency investment assets worth £126 billion: if these assets can be put to more effective Source: 12th Programme use, there is significant potential benefit to Lead Department: Department for the public. Business, Innovation and Skills Many charities are already involved in Start: Summer 2014 social investment, and the existing law is Consultation: June 2015 not an impediment. But there is concern Scheduled completion: Summer 2016 that a lack of clarity as to their precise powers and duties means that some Outcome: Scoping study charity trustees are not confident about making social investments. A study by Consumer Focus in 2009 found Our initial consultation paper proposed a that approximately 24.5 million prepayment new default statutory power for charity transactions are made each year in the UK trustees to make social investments, along by around 20 million consumers. with a list of factors that trustees may take Prepayments are popular because they into account when investing. This new can be used to budget for big spends, such power – combined with the accompanying as Christmas, or as a deposit for major checklist – would make it clear to trustees purchases like cars or new kitchens. On a that they should consider all the potential smaller scale, gift vouchers and cards benefits of a social investment, rather than solve the dilemma of choosing the “right” focusing solely on achieving the best gift. The benefits for businesses are that financial return. prepayments provide a cheap source of Following an 8-week consultation, we working capital and can lock in consumers published our recommendations and then to a particular brand. drafted a Bill to give effect to our However, recent high-profile retailer recommendation for the creation of a new insolvencies have highlighted the lack of statutory power, which the Government protection for consumers making these has included within the Charities kinds of payments. The collapse of the (Protection and Social Investment) Act Farepak Christmas savings club in 2006 2016. We await the response of left many consumers out of pocket. More recently, the collapse of Comet reportedly

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caused consumers to lose £4.7 million in 2012 to February 2013 unused gift vouchers. Scheduled completion: end 2016 When a retailer becomes insolvent, the law Outcome: Law reform recommendations, in imposes a strict hierarchy of creditors to be four reports paid out from any remaining assets. Consumers, who are classed as unsecured creditors, are very near the bottom of the Scandalising the court list. In August 2012, we published a This lack of protection is causing concern. consultation paper on scandalising the The issues are complex and go to the court – a historic form of contempt of court heart of the insolvency regime. In 1982, the covering conduct likely to undermine the Cork report rejected greater protection for administration of justice or public consumers, noting that consumers typically confidence in courts and judges. This work lose small and affordable amounts while was brought forward in order to feed into the effect on suppliers can be catastrophic. the Government’s deliberations on the But following the Farepak collapse the Crime and Courts Bill. Our Treasury Select Committee described the recommendation that the offence be existing safety net as “inadequate and abolished was accepted as an amendment incomplete”. The OFT carried out a review, to the Bill in December 2012. and ministers asked the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to consider Abolition of the offence of scandalising the providing more protection for consumers. court was implemented in the Crime and Courts Act 2013. We do not believe that the problem will go away. If anything, given the current economic climate, retailer insolvencies Contempt of court – other may increase. There are also good reasons for giving consumers more areas protection, not least to maintain consumer Contempt of court covers a wide variety of confidence in these products. But we must activities and behaviour that undermine or bear in mind that greater protection for threaten to undermine the course of consumers will necessarily lead to less justice. The law covering contempt of court protection for others. is vast. In our consultation paper we The project will consider possible ways therefore chose to focus on a number of forward, gathering empirical evidence about specific areas, including: the scale of the problem and consulting on possible solutions.  Contempt by publication: We looked at how best to balance the right to a fair trial with the right to freedom of Contempt of court expression

Source: 11th Programme  The impact of new media: Much of the law pre-dates the internet, and there Lead Department: Ministry of Justice are concerns as to whether it can deal Start: May 2012 effectively with contempts involving Consultation: new media and in particular social Scandalising the Court, August 2012 to media. October 2012  Contempts by jurors: We looked at the Contempt of court generally, November issue of jurors using external sources

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to find information about the case they  that all postponement orders on court are trying. There is a need to strike a reporting be posted on a single publicly balance between ensuring that justice accessible website (as already is done, the defendant’s right to a fair happens in Scotland), and adding a trial and jurors’ own rights. paid-for service where users can access the terms of the order and sign up for automated email alerts of new  Contempt in the face of the court: The orders. law in this area is confusing, with gaps and inconsistencies between the Final report provisions that apply to the Crown The remaining report in this project will deal Court and those applying to the with contempt in the face of the court and magistrates’ courts. aspects of contempt by publication not  Reporting restrictions: Current law already covered in our previous reports. gives courts the power to postpone court reporting where this is necessary Electoral law to avoid prejudicing the proceedings, but there is no formal system for Source: 11th Programme communicating these orders to the media. Lead Department: Cabinet Office Start: 2011 Scoping consultation: June to September Juror misconduct and 2012 internet publications Consultation: January 2016 Scheduled completion: 2017 In this first post-consultation report, published in December 2013, we made Outcome: Law reform recommendations recommendations including: and draft Bill  Making it a criminal offence for jurors to The law covering the administration of conduct prohibited research. elections is old, disparate, confusing and  Introducing an exemption from sometimes contradictory. Particularly since contempt liability for publishers relating 1997, the original 19th century structure has to archived online material. been patched up and adapted to accommodate new elections to new  Making a limited exception to the institutions with new voting systems. People prohibition on jurors revealing their are now often asked to vote for a range of deliberations where it could highlight representatives at the same time. Each type miscarriages of justice, or where they of election comes with its own set of rules are taking part in controlled research. and systems, and combining different types The first recommendation was given into one electoral event introduces yet more legislative effect by section 71 of the layers of electoral law. To keep running, the Criminal Justice and Courts Act, which was system has come to depend on the given Royal Assent in February 2015. production of voluminous guidance, and on the considerable energy and ingenuity of Court reporting electoral administrators. Our project to reform electoral law is split We published our second report in March into three stages. In accordance with the 2014, recommending: scoping stage, which ran from July 2011 to

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December 2012, we are now considering The third stage will be the writing of a draft substantive law reform in the following Bill, after we deliver a report of our areas: proposals.  the administration of local campaigns; The project has, since the start of the second phase, been a tripartite project with the  the law covering polling days and Scottish and Northern Ireland Law counts; Commissions.  combination of polls (when more than one election is taking place at the same Event fees (previously known time); as transfer of title and change  election timetables; of occupancy fees in  challenges to the result and criminal leaseholds) offences; and  the administration of referendums. Source: Ministerial reference Lead Department: Department for Consultees responding to our scoping Communities and Local Government paper agreed that there was a clear need Start: October 2014 to: Consultation: October 2015  review the legislative framework for Review Point: Summer 2016 electoral law to provide a clear, Outcome: Interim law reform review principled and consistent structure;  review electoral administration law to The project looks at leasehold terms that rationalise, simplify and modernise the oblige a person leasing a property to pay a rules governing the conduct of elections, fee when the title to that property is so as to reduce the risk of mistakes; transferred or where there is a change in  identify where the electoral process – occupancy. and the electorate – would benefit from These sorts of leasehold terms are most rules that are more specific and clear; often found in retirement home and similar and developments. Concerns were raised with  recommend how existing rules could be the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) about their less prescriptive and more flexible to operation. The fee is usually calculated as reduce the complexity and volume of a percentage of the sale price or the laws, and reflect the best interests of original purchase price. Fees can be voters. charged where the transfer of title is voluntary, for example when the property is The reforms also look at the circumstances sold, or involuntary such as under a under which electoral administration might property transfer order. Change of be challenged. The current system leaves occupancy can be broadly defined and little room for investigating, and drawing fees can be triggered on more than one conclusions from, a complaint about how occasion over the lifetime of a lease, for an election was run if the outcome of the example if the occupant has to go into election was not affected. The reforms will hospital for a time. not cover matters of a fundamentally The OFT concluded that the terms were political nature, like the franchise, voting potentially unfair and there was a lack of systems, electoral boundaries and the transparency, particularly in sales national funding of political parties. materials. The nature of the terms can be

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unclear and some appear to fall outside the these orders comes at significant financial existing regulatory regimes. As a result and emotional cost to those involved. But there may be no means by which someone this damage may be compounded – and leasing a property can effectively challenge have a long-term impact on both adults and a term or the amount of the fee. children – if the orders are not then enforced. In response to the OFT’s report some The current law on the enforcement of landlords voluntarily entered into family financial orders has been described undertakings on the use of the terms. as “hopelessly complex and procedurally tortuous”. The enforcement mechanisms However, the OFT also recommended are contained in a wide range of legislation that the Government should consider and members of the public, legal further measures, including legislative practitioners and even the courts have reform. difficulty understanding how they work. Our project considers the problems caused The law may be preventing some sensible by terms in residential leases generally that arrangements being put in place. require the lessee to pay a fee on a This project looks at the various ways in transfer of title or change of occupancy, which family financial orders made under and in the retirement home sector and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Civil similar markets in particular. Partnership Act 2004 and the Children Act We are looking at how the current law 1989 are enforced. Reform of the law could addresses the problems that are identified offer a clear set of rules and the ability to and considering whether greater protection access the full range of enforcement is needed for lessees, for example through: options, without the need for multiple  unfair terms legislation hearings. It would enable the court to consider enforcement against a wide range  landlord and tenant law, and/or of assets.  conveyancing procedure. Better law in this area will help to ensure We are also considering what the impact of that money that has been ordered to be any greater protection may be. paid for the support of children and adults is paid. It would also limit the damaging Family financial orders – effects of ongoing litigation on families, enabling the parties to move on with their enforcement lives. A simpler and more intuitive enforcement process would assist Source: 11th Programme individuals and could ease pressure on the Lead Department: Ministry of Justice court system and legal advice agencies. Start: March 2014 Consultation: March 2015

Scheduled completion: End 2016

Outcome: Law reform recommendations and draft Bill

The courts have statutory powers to order people to make financial provision for their children or for a former spouse or civil partner following divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. Sometimes, obtaining

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Some areas of firearms law have failed to Firearms keep pace with technological developments. For example, the test for determining Source: 12th Programme whether an imitation firearm can be Lead Department: Home Office converted into a live firearm originates from Start: Early 2015 1982, and the law does not take account of Consultation: July 2015 the increased availability of specialist tools and equipment. Such tools can be used to Scheduled completion: December 2015 convert imitation firearms into real firearms. Outcome: Scoping report; wider We therefore recommended the test for codification project under consideration whether an imitation firearm is readily convertible into a real firearm be amended to The majority of recommendations in our acknowledge the relative ease with which scoping report were taken forward in the specialist equipment can now be purchased. Policing and Crime Bill. The Bill was We also recommended the creation of an introduced into Parliament on 10 February offence that criminalizes someone who is in 2016. A broader firearms codification review possession of an article with intent to use it is currently under consideration. unlawfully to convert an imitation firearm into a real firearm. Our aim is to ensure that The law governing the ownership and use of individuals can no longer possess with firearms is complex and difficult to apply. It is impunity tools and equipment intending to spread across a number of pieces of use them unlawfully to convert firearms. overlapping legislation, creating significant practical difficulties for investigating In relation to deactivated firearms we authorities and prosecutors, and generating identified a significant problem: the law uncertainty for the licensed firearms currently does not impose a legal community. requirement for firearms to be deactivated to an approved standard. This is a gap in the In our scoping report, published in December law that has the potential to be exploited by 2015, we identified pressing problems with those with criminal intent. To reduce this the current law and made recommendations possibility, we recommended that firearms as to how these should be addressed. The must be deactivated in a manner that is aims of the recommendations contained approved by the Home Office or the within our scoping report are twofold. First, to European Union. If they are not deactivated ensure that the law maximises public safety to an approved standard, such weapons will and secondly, to ensure that those who must continue to be classed as firearms. both enforce and comply with the law know where they stand. Form and accessibility of the For example, our recommendations define law applicable in Wales key terms including “lethal”, “antique firearm” and “component part” for the first time. The Source: 12th Programme failure to define these terms has caused Lead Department: Welsh Government considerable difficulties in practice for the Start: Summer 2014 police and CPS as well as the licensed firearms community. It is also hoped that this Consultation: July 2015 will mean that enforcement becomes more Scheduled completion: Summer 2016 efficient. Outcome: Advice to Government

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Problems with the form and accessibility of reform.” the law relating to Wales have been apparent for some time, and are becoming Maura McGowan QC, Chairman of the Bar. more serious. The process of devolution has Letter to the Chairman, December 2012. led to a situation in which it is difficult for both professionals and the public to access the law relating to Wales. Insurance contract law The Government of Wales Act 1998 transferred executive powers to the Source: 9th Programme National Assembly for Wales by means of Lead Department: HM Treasury transfer of functions orders. Other powers were transferred to the Assembly by Start: January 2006 statute. In 2007, these functions were Consultations: transferred to Welsh ministers, and Misrepresentation, Non-disclosure and provision was made for transferring Breach of Warranty by the Insured, July to legislative competence either by statute or September 2007 by legislative consent order. The system Post Contract Duties and other Issues, changed in 2011, and the National December 2011 to February 2012 Assembly now has broader powers to The Business Insured's Duty of Disclosure make laws in devolved areas. and the Law of Warranties, June to August As a result, it can be very difficult to find 2012 and understand the law in devolved areas. Scheduled completion: Summer 2015 The problem is particularly acute in respect Outcome: Law reform recommendations of executive powers, but is certainly not and draft Bills, in three reports confined to them. For example, a power which, on the face of a statute, appears to be exercised by the Secretary of State may The current law on insurance contracts dates in fact have been transferred to Welsh back to 1906 and is now seriously out of ministers. However, this will not be date. The 1906 Act was developed at a time apparent without in-depth research. Pre- when the person being insured knew their devolution statutes may have been business while the insurer did not, and was subsequently amended, so that they now designed to protect the fledgling insurance contain some provisions that cover industry against exploitation. England and Wales, some that relate to Working with the Scottish Law England and some that are specific to Commission, we have been conducting a Wales only. wide-ranging review that aims to simplify This project will be purely advisory, and our the law and bring it into line with modern final report will not contain a draft Bill. We will market practice. consider ways in which the earlier legislation The review is being carried out in phases. can be simplified and made more accessible, Our first priority was consumer insurance and how future legislation could reduce, law, on which we reported in 2009, leading rather than multiply, the problems. to the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012. Our “Since it was established in 1965 the Law second report will cover four further topics: Commission has achieved a deservedly  the duty of disclosure in business high reputation for the quality of its work insurance; and the rigour of its approach to law  the law of warranties;

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 damages for late payment; and The Insurance Act 2015 will give effect to reforms recommended by  the insurer’s remedies for fraud. the Law Commissions in their 2014 report Insurance Contract Law: Consumer Insurance Business Disclosure, Warranties, (Disclosure and Insurers’ Remedies for Fraudulent Representations) Act 2012 Claims, and Late Payment. The duty of disclosure in business The law under the Marine Insurance Act insurance 1906 requires consumers to volunteer In the past, a business policyholder had a information about everything which a duty to disclose every material “prudent insurer” would consider circumstance it knew about the risk it relevant. The aim of our project was to wanted to insure against. Failure to do so remove the duty on consumers to entitled the insurer to “avoid” the contract, volunteer information to the insurer and ie to treat it as if it did not exist and refuse replace it with a duty to answer the all claims. The duty was unclear and insurer’s questions honestly and sometimes poorly understood, and the reasonably. penalties for failure were too harsh. The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Under a new “duty of fair presentation”, Representations) Bill, which was derived business policyholders will still have a duty from our report, was introduced into to volunteer information, but what is Parliament using the special procedure for required of them is made clearer, and uncontroversial Law Commission Bills. The insurers will have to play a more active role Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and in asking questions to the policyholder. A Representations) Act 2012 came into force new scheme of proportionate remedies will on 6 April 2013. The Act: replace the existing single remedy of  abolishes the consumer’s duty to avoidance, which allows insurers to refuse volunteer material facts. Instead, the whole of a claim. consumers must take reasonable care The law of warranties to answer their insurer’s questions fully In insurance law, a “warranty” is a and accurately and, if they volunteer particularly onerous term. Typically, a information, must take reasonable care warranty requires the policyholder to take to ensure that it is not misleading; and some action to mitigate risk, for example  prescribes the insurer’s remedies where maintaining a burglar alarm. The problem they have been induced by a is that any breach discharged the insurer misrepresentation to enter into an from liability, even if the breach had been insurance contract. remedied. Under the Insurance Act 2015, insurers will Insurance Act 2015 be liable to pay any claim that arises after a breach of warranty has been remedied The Insurance Bill received Royal such as where a broken burglar alarm has Assent on 12 February 2015, been repaired before the claim arises. implementing reforms recommended They will no longer be able to escape by the Law Commissions of England liability on the basis of the policyholder’s and Wales and of Scotland to breach of a contract term that is shown to modernise and simplify insurance be completely irrelevant to the loss contract law across the UK. suffered. And “basis of the contract”

16 | The work of the Law Commission

clauses, which used to turn any statement Business, Innovation and Skills, Land from a policyholder into a warranty, have Registry been abolished. Start: Spring 2015 Damages for late payment Consultation: March 2016 The Government did not originally Scheduled completion: Late 2017 include the Law Commissions’ Outcome: Law reform recommendations recommendations relating to late and draft Bill payment in the Insurance Act 2015 but has implemented them through the Enterprise Act 2016, which The Land Registration Act 2002 established received Royal Assent in early May a regime for the registration of title to 2016. freehold and some leasehold land, and interests affecting such land. The 2002 Act Insurers’ remedies for fraud was implemented following a joint project Insurers are particularly vulnerable to fraud between the Law Commission and Land by policyholders, and the law needs to Registry. provide well-known, robust sanctions. The The land registration regime is of law in this area was confused. enormous and growing importance. Over Implementing our recommendations, the 80% of the land in England and Wales is Act will now provide insurers with clear, registered, with Land Registry maintaining robust remedies when a policyholder more than 23 million titles. makes a fraudulent claim. Where any part This project comprises a wide-ranging of a claim is fraudulent, they will be entitled review of the 2002 Act, with a view to to refuse the whole claim. They will also amendment where elements of the Act have the right to refuse any claim arising could be improved in light of experience after the fraud but must pay earlier, valid with its operation. There is evidence that in claims. some areas revision or clarification is Insurable interest needed; the 12th Programme consultation revealed a range of often highly technical Our final report and Bill on the insurance issues that have important commercial contract law project will cover the issue of implications for Land Registry and its insurable interest. Publication is planned for stakeholders, including mortgage late 2016. providers.

In March 2015 we published an issues paper Dealings and disputes that engage the setting out updated proposals to clarify the land registration regime can be complex concept of insurable interest in indemnity and require expert advice. Uncertainty in insurance and to extend the concept for life the regime makes advising clients difficult, insurance. We propose that people should incentivises litigation, and increases costs be allowed to insure the lives of their for landowners. children, cohabitants or employees, and the In particular, this project examines the extent law should not put controls on this. of Land Registry’s guarantee of title, rectification and alteration of the register, and Land registration the impact of fraud. The project also re-examines the legal Source: 12th Programme framework for electronic conveyancing. We Lead Department: Department for consider how technology might be harnessed to reduce the time and resources

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required to process applications while decisions, and where they do not, for others maintaining the reliability of the register and to make those decisions in their best public confidence in it. interests. In 2004, a case before the European Court Marriage of Human Rights established that it was possible for decisions taken in a person’s Source: Reference best interests about the provision of Lead Department: Ministry of Justice residential and social services were capable of amounting to a deprivation of Start: Early 2015 liberty under Article 5 of the European Scheduled completion: December 2015 Convention on Human Rights. The UK was Outcome: Scoping report found to be in breach of the Article, because in such circumstances the law in This project involves a review of the law England and Wales did not provide for an governing how and where people can marry adequate system of authorisation and in England and Wales. The underlying review of the deprivation of liberty. question is whether the current law, which In 2007, in reaction to the finding, the has evolved over a long period of time, deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS) provides a clear and coherent legal were introduced into the Mental Capacity framework, which meets people’s needs and Act 2005 by the Mental Health Act 2007. wishes and also recognises the interests of They were introduced in order to plug the society and the state in protecting the status gap identified in the case, and to ensure of marriage. that such situations are properly regulated in line with the person’s human rights. The Law Commission agreed to carry out DOLS applies only to deprivations of liberty some initial work to prepare the way for that take place in hospitals and care homes. potential future reform. We have published the results of a preliminary study identifying If a person’s right to liberty is compromised and providing an initial analysis of the in other settings, his or her deprivation of issues that need to be addressed in order liberty has to be authorised and supervised to develop proposals for the reform of by the Court of Protection. marriage law. The DOLS provisions have been criticised since they were introduced for being overly Mental capacity and complex and excessively bureaucratic. It is said that staff often do not understand deprivation of liberty them and that there is confusion over the differences between the powers of the Source: 12th Programme Mental Health Act 1983 and DOLS. Lead Department: Department of Health In March 2014 a House of Lords select Start: Summer 2014 committee conducting a post-legislative Consultation: July 2015 scrutiny of the Mental Capacity Act found Scheduled completion: end 2016 that DOLS were not “fit for purpose” and Outcome: Law reform recommendations called for them to be replaced. The and draft Bill committee also recommended that the new system should extend to cover people in supported living arrangements, not just The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides the hospitals and care homes. Shortly framework for assessing whether people afterwards, the Supreme Court found that have the necessary capacity to make certain a person will be deprived of their liberty in

18 | The work of the Law Commission

more situations than had previously been law offence. It will also ensure that the law thought to be the case. takes into account practices whereby traditionally public functions are discharged The Department of Health has accepted by private individuals and volunteers to that there are difficulties with DOLS and ensure that the scope of the offence is has announced various measures neither over- nor under-inclusive. designed to improve the way the safeguards operate. “The Commission continues to fulfil an Our project considers how deprivation of important function within the justice system liberty should be authorised and supervised and the commitment of those working at in settings other than hospitals and care the Commission to continue to do this homes, where it is possible that Article 5 despite various pressures [is] impressive.” rights would otherwise be infringed. In addition to considering these settings, the Triennial Review of the Law Commission, project will also assess the implications of Report of Stage Two (2014), p11. this work for DOLS to ensure that any learning which may be relevant is shared. Planning and development Misconduct in public office control in Wales Source: 11th Programme Source: 12th Programme Lead Department: Ministry of Justice Lead Department: Welsh Government Start: Summer 2014 Start: Summer 2014 Consultation: January 2016 Scoping paper: summer 2016 Scheduled completion: Spring 2017 Consultation: summer 2017 Outcome: Law reform recommendations Outcome: Law reform recommendations

Misconduct in public office is a common law Planning law in both England and Wales is offence but there is no exhaustive definition. over-complicated and difficult to understand. As a result the boundaries of the offence are The statutory provisions have not been uncertain and despite there being relatively consolidated since the Town and Country few prosecutions each year a Planning Act 1990, and there has been disproportionately high number of those piecemeal legislative development ever cases are the subject of appeal. Areas of since. difficulty identified in recent appeals include the fact that the fault element of the offence The position is even more complex in varies according to the conduct that is the Wales. Some, but not all, of the recent subject of prosecution and that there is English legislation is applicable to Wales, uncertainty as regards the liability of private while some provisions are specific to individuals who discharge public functions. Wales only and some have been commenced in England but not in Wales. In 2010 the Committee on the Issue of This means that it is very difficult, even for Privilege (Police Searches on the professionals, to understand which parts of Parliamentary Estate) recommended that the planning law apply in Wales, leading to the Law Commission revisit its 1997 increased costs to individuals, communities proposal to create a statutory offence. and businesses, as well as to local This project will involve the simplification, planning authorities. clarification and codification of a common

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This project considers the benefits of a held by Government from unauthorised simplified and modernised system that disclosure and is examining the relevant reflects the needs of Wales, a smaller aspects of the Data Protection Act 1998, the country with different types of land use, Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and the and where there is a close connection protections for information exempt from between government bodies. release under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are taking a holistic approach A simplified and modernised planning and examine how the legislative landscape system for Wales will have the potential to could be rationalised and made more promote economic growth, housing supply coherent. and protection of the environment, as well as increasing efficiency and reducing transaction costs. Sentencing code

Protection of official Source: 12th Programme Lead Department: Ministry of Justice Government data Start: January 2015 Source: Reference Initial consultation: July-August 2015 Lead Department: Cabinet Office Current law consultation: Oct 2015-Apr Start: February 2016 2016 Consultation: Sept-Dec 2016 Main consultation: summer 2017 Scheduled completion: end February 2017 Scheduled completion: 2018/19 Outcome: Report Outcome: Law reform recommendations and draft Bill In February 2016 the Law Commission began work on a project referred to us by the The law on sentencing affects all criminal Cabinet Office. The aim of the project is to cases, and is applied in hundreds of examine the effectiveness of the law thousands of cases and thousands of surrounding the protection of official data. appeals each year. Currently, the law lacks coherence and clarity: it is spread across a More specifically, the project is examining myriad of statues, and frequent updates are the effectiveness of the criminal law brought into force at different times by provisions that protect Government different statutory instruments and have a information from unauthorised disclosure. variety of transitional arrangements. Our focus is on assessing the extent to which there are any deficiencies in the law, This makes it difficult, if not impossible at and research options for improving the times, for practitioners and the courts to protection of official information with the aim understand what the present law of of providing an effective and coherent legal sentencing procedure actually is. This can response to unauthorised disclosures. The lead to delays, costly appeals and unlawful project is also examining the provisions that sentences. A survey of 400 Court of Appeal criminalise those who illegitimately obtain or cases from 2012 by the sentencing expert attempt to obtain official information. Robert Banks found that 262 were appeals against sentences and that of these, 95 In terms of legislation, the project is paying related to sentences that had been particular attention to the Official Secrets unlawfully passed in the Crown Court. Banks Acts 1911 – 1939 and the Official Secrets wrote, “[This] figure shows that we can no Act 1989. We are also considering other longer say the sentencing system is working criminal provisions that protect information

20 | The work of the Law Commission

properly. Cases since then have indicated Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public that these figures are not unrepresentative.” Prosecution. Evidence to the 2013 Triennial Review of the Law Commission. There seems to be near unanimity from all in practice, on the bench and in academia that the law in this area is in urgent need of reform. The courts have repeatedly Unfitness to plead complained about the complexity of modern sentencing procedure. There is strong Source: 10th Programme evidence that the high number of unlawful Lead Department: Ministry of Justice sentences being handed down is a direct result of the inability of sentencing tribunals Start: 2010 to find their way through the relevant Initial consultation: October 2010 to provisions. This undermines public January 2011 confidence in sentencing and costs a great Further questions: May 2014 to July 2014 deal of public money to rectify on appeal. Scheduled completion: Early 2016 Our aim in this project is to introduce a single sentencing statute that will act as the first Outcome: Law reform recommendations and only port of call for sentencing tribunals. and draft Bill It will set out the relevant provisions in a clear and logical way, and ensure that all updates When a defendant facing criminal to sentencing procedure can be found in a prosecution is “unfit to plead”, they cannot single place. It is not the aim of this project to engage with the process because of their interfere with mandatory minimum sentences mental or physical condition. These or with sentencing tariffs in general. Those defendants are tried using a different will remain entirely untouched, but the process and if it is found that they did commit process by which they come to be imposed the act in question, they may be detained in will be streamlined and much improved. a hospital or supervised in the community. The legal test used to decide whether a In July 2015 we published an issues paper, defendant is “unfit to plead” dates from examining how the New Sentencing Code 1836, and does not adequately reflect should be introduced, sweeping away layers advances in modern psychiatric and of historic sentencing law. This met with psychological thinking. strong support, and we published a final report summarising consultees’ views and In addition, the law has developed outlining our recommendations on transition piecemeal and independently of the to the New Code in May 2016. development of the right to “effective participation” that forms part of the fair trial Our published collection of the law currently guarantees set out in the European in force governing sentencing has also been Convention on Human Rights. The test well received, and this forms our starting needs to be reformed so that it achieves a point for drafting the New Sentencing Code, fair balance between protecting vulnerable which will be the subject of a full consultation defendants and ensuring that the rights of in 2017. victims and the security of the general public are properly addressed. “I can state unequivocally that in my view the Law Commission continues to play a In our consultation, we made provisional vital role in helping the shape the criminal proposals for comprehensive reform of the law in England and Wales.” law on unfitness to plead in England and Wales. Having reviewed the responses, and taking into account changes to the

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criminal justice system since the consultation, we returned to stakeholders Wills with a number of additional questions. Source: 12th Programme These included: Lead Department: Ministry of Justice  How can special measures to enhance Start: Early 2016 the defendant’s ability to participate in trial be fairly incorporated into the test Consultation: Spring 2017 for unfitness? Complete: tbc  Should the procedure in the magistrates’ Outcome: Law reform recommendations and youth courts be the same as that in and draft Bill the Crown Court?  What should the process be for dealing It is estimated that 40% or more of the adult with a defendant who has been found population does not have a will, and where unfit to plead? they do, the state of the law means it may be found to be invalid. Where there is no will or  At a hearing to deal with a defendant a will is invalid, the intestacy rules will apply; found unfit, what issues should be they are a blunt instrument that cannot considered by the court? replace the expression of a person’s own  What options should the court have in wishes. Certain individuals and bodies dealing with unfit defendants? cannot benefit under the rules, including cohabitants and charities. It is therefore These aim of these additional questions is important that people make wills and that the to ensure that our final recommendations law supports this. to Government are practical and properly reflect the experience and views of all The primary wills statute, the Wills Act those who encounter these issues, 1837, dates from the Victorian era. The law whether by working within the criminal governing testamentary capacity, the justice system or experiencing it as a mental capacity to make a will, derives victim, witness, defendant or general from a case from 1870. There is concern member of the public. that the current law discourages some people from making wills, that it is out of step with social and medical developments, and that it may not work in “The Commission’s commitment to such a way as to give best effect to a openness was…greatly welcomed by the person’s intentions on death. It has been Commission’s stakeholders. Its open and criticised for being difficult to understand transparent approach to law reform and and apply, and for sometimes being policy making is an exemplar of the kind of unworkable in practice. In the case of open policy making championed in the Civil mental capacity, this presents a growing Service Reform Plan.” problem, since conditions that affect Triennial Review of the Law Commission, capacity are becoming more common as Report of Stage Two (2014), p12. people live longer. This project will review the law of wills, focusing on four key areas that have been identified as potentially needing reform: testamentary capacity, the formalities for a valid will, the rectification of wills, and mutual wills. It will consider whether the law could be reformed to encourage and

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facilitate will-making in the 21st century: for example, whether it should be updated to take account of developments in technology and medicine. It will also aim to reduce the likelihood of wills being challenged after death, and the incidence of litigation. Such litigation is expensive, can divide families and is a cause of great stress for the bereaved. We had planned to commence the project early in 2015, but at the start of 2015 the Government asked us to prioritise work on marriage law. We returned to the wills project following publication in December 2015 of our scoping report on marriage.

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Statute law 20th century legislation

Consultation: late 2014 Consolidation of statute law and the repeal Complete: February 2015 of statutes that are obsolete or no longer Outcome: Statute Law Repeals report and serve any useful purpose have been draft Bill important functions of the Law Commission since its creation. By modernising the statute book and leaving it clearer, shorter A review of 20th century legislation suggests and more accessible, this work helps to the existence of a considerable amount of save time and costs for practitioners who comparatively modern but obsolete law that work with the law and others who need to has fallen outside our previous repeals use it, and makes it easier for citizens to projects. access justice. We completed a chronological examination of 20th century Acts and recommended Consolidation repeals in a number of areas.

Over 200 consolidation Acts have been Finance, taxation and other repeals enacted since the Commission was established in 1965. The aim of this work is Consultation: late 2014 to make statute law more accessible and comprehensible; it can have real practical The largest single component is obsolete benefits. Acts relating to finance and taxation. We consulted on potential repeals of obsolete Acts relating to the police, criminal law, “I end by thanking the Law Commission, shipping and social security. which does an extremely good job for us in this country. I add my tributes to it for the Trade and industry work that it does all the time to present us Consultation: June 2014 with considered and measured proposals for legislation.” We recommended the repeal of 37 obsolete Simon Hughes MP, HC Debate, 26 March Acts and the partial repeal of 11 other Acts 2014, C427. relating to trade and industry. The Acts span the period 1860 to 2007. Statute law repeals The repeals are in two groups. The first covers coal industry legislation starting just The work set out in this section forms the before the nationalisation of the coal basis of the 20th Statute Law (Repeals) Bill, industry in 1947. Much of the post-Second which we recommended to Government in World War legislation relates to the June 2015. Government’s funding of the coal industry and the National Coal Board and is now obsolete.

The second group relates more generally to trade and industry legislation. Mostly dating from the 1940s, the obsolete enactments

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reflect economic and social changes in the second half of the 20th century. Churches The recommendations include the repeal Consultation: July 2014 of: Complete: June 2015  five Acts passed to regulate the Outcome: Statute Law Repeals report and telegraph industry; draft Bill  a 1938 Act passed to maintain stocks of food and fuel in the event of war; This project examined 18th and 19th century Acts that were passed to raise money for the  a 1939 Act passed to restrict the repair or rebuilding of ancient churches in advertisement of insurance aimed at England and Wales. protecting home owners against war risks; Parliamentary authority had been needed for these works because the costs were  a 1975 Act passed to prevent important met by rates levied on the inhabitants of manufacturing firms passing to non- the parishes. In nearly every case, the Acts residents; and became obsolete once sufficient money  a 1979 Act passed to regulate the had been raised from parishioners. Indeed, Crown Agents. many of the churches in question no longer exist. British India We have recommended the repeal of 121 obsolete Acts. Consultation: 2012 Complete: June 2015 Outcome: Statute Law Repeals report and draft Bill

This work represents the third and final phase of the Commission’s review of obsolete or spent UK legislation relating to British India. We reviewed some 24 statutes that enabled companies to be established and operate a variety of commercial undertakings either in, or in connection with, what was – until 1947 – British India (today principally India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).

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