The Law Reform Enterprise: Evaluating the Past and Charting the Future

The fifth in our series of Scarman Lectures was given by Sir Geoffrey Palmer KCMG AC QC at Middle Temple Hall, London, on 24 March 2015.

Sir Geoffrey was President of the Law Commission of New Zealand from 2005 to 2010. He has served as Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of New Zealand, and is currently a Distinguished Fellow of the Victoria University of Wellington Law School.

In his lecture, The Law Reform Enterprise: Evaluating the Past and Charting the Future, Sir Geoffrey Palmer looks back at the original vision that lay behind the establishment of the Law Commissions of Great Britain and examines their performance over 50 years. Building on the Law Commission experience, Sir Geoffrey sets out the elements necessary for a rigorous, effective and successful law reform process, and asks what can government, specifically Westminster, learn from the Law Commissions about making “accessible…intelligible, clear and predictable” law.

The Legal Education Foundation

We are grateful to the Legal Education Foundation for their generous sponsorship of the 2015 Scarman Lecture. The Foundation exists to promote the advancement of legal education and the study of law in all its branches.

Click here for the transcript

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