Today, the Law Commission has published a scoping paper looking into how Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) can be characterised and how the law of England and Wales might accommodate them now and in the future. The paper seeks to identify current issues around DAOs to inform any future law reform or innovations. The term “DAO” describes, … Read more >
Today, the Law Commission publishes a consultation paper reviewing the law on contempt of court. A summary of the paper is here and the full consultation paper is here. “Contempt of court” refers to a wide variety of conduct that may impede or interfere with the administration of justice. For example, taking photographs in a … Read more >
The Law Commission’s Annual Report 2023-24 has been published. The annual report highlights the work the Law Commission has done from October 2023 to March 2024. We would like to thank colleagues across the Law Commission for their input and contribution to this annual report. This has been a particularly busy and productive period in … Read more >
Professor Penney Lewis has been reappointed as Commissioner for Criminal Law for a further five years, the Government has announced. Originally appointed in 2020, Professor Lewis will now serve until 31 December 2029, leading on projects to ensure that the laws governing areas such as evidence in sexual offences prosecutions, criminal appeals and contempt of court … Read more >
The Law Commission is today launching a new project, beginning their preliminary research into agricultural law in Wales. The Welsh Government has asked the Law Commission to review agricultural law in Wales and consider how it could be brought together under a code of law. The aim of any such code would be to simplify … Read more >
Professor Alison Young has started today (18 March 2024) as a new Commissioner at the Law Commission for a period of five years. Professor Young replaces Nicholas Paines KC as the Commissioner for Public and Welsh Law. She will oversee the work of the Public Law and Law in Wales team on a variety of … Read more >
The Law Commission has today published an update covering 2019 to 2023 looking at how law reform provides tangible and enduring benefits to the economy and society. The update shows the potential for economic gains in excess of £670 million and that our recommendations can lead to positive impacts for significant numbers of people. For … Read more >
The Law Commission of England and Wales is seeking views on how best to regulate self-flying and remotely piloted aircraft for now and in the future. Automation is already heavily used in aviation today, but recent breakthroughs have seen the development of new, innovative, self-flying (“autonomous”) and highly automated systems and vehicles. These include drones … Read more >
The Law Commission is today launching a call for evidence to inform their project on private international law in the context of digital assets and electronic trade documents. We are separately seeking views on draft legislation following our report on digital assets in June 2023. Digital assets and ETDs in private international law In our … Read more >
The Government has published its response to the Law Commission’s anti-money laundering report. Of the 19 recommendations made, the Government has accepted, or partially accepted, 13 of them. The original report looked at the existing law around reporting suspicious financial activity. This provides law enforcement with the means to investigate and gather intelligence and protects … Read more >