Today the Government laid before Parliament our recommendations for reform of firearms law in the Policing and Crime Bill. Part 6 of the Bill contains recommendations we made in our recent report, Firearms Law – Reforms to Addressing Pressing Problems. Law Commissioner for Criminal Law, Professor David Ormerod QC said: “I am delighted that our … Read more >
Charities will have statutory powers to make social investments under Law Commission reforms implemented by the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill. The new powers were recommended in our September 2014 report, Social Investment by Charities. Social investment is a useful tool for charities. It provides financial returns while at the same time generating social … Read more >
The UK needs a new, modern and rational legal framework to govern the conduct of elections and referendums, according to an interim report published today by the three Law Commissions of the UK. Electoral law in the UK is spread across 17 major statutes and some 30 sets of regulations. It has become increasingly complex … Read more >
The UK needs a new, modern and rational legal framework to govern the conduct of elections and referendums. In an interim report published today with our colleagues in the Scottish and Northern Ireland Law Commissions we outline the response to our public consultation on areas of electoral law that are in need of reform, and … Read more >
“We are delighted to have received the Government’s positive and encouraging response to our report on conservation covenants. “We recommended the introduction of a new statutory scheme of conservation covenants in June 2014. The scheme would, if implemented, allow landowners to ensure the long-term conservation of features such as habitats and historic buildings. In its … Read more >
We have launched a consultation to explore how the current law governing misconduct in public office is being used and discover the problems caused in practice by the law’s lack of clarity. Misconduct in public office is a common law offence, not defined in statute. It is unclear and ambiguous: “Public office” is not clearly … Read more >
What is misconduct? And who is in public office? The existing law that governs misconduct in public office does not provide clear answers to either of these questions, according to the Law Commission. Today the Law Commission launched a consultation aimed at exploring how the current law is being used and discovering the problems caused … Read more >
A new test is needed to establish who is unfit to plead according to the Law Commission. The existing rules for deciding whether a defendant is unfit to participate in a criminal trial – and what the courts should do if they are not – are out of date, misunderstood and inconsistently applied. In a … Read more >
A new test is needed to establish who is unfit to plead. The existing rules for deciding whether a defendant is unfit to participate in a criminal trial – and what the courts should do if they are not – are out of date, misunderstood and inconsistently applied. Our new report sets out recommendations to … Read more >
The Law Commission has agreed to examine the law surrounding breaches of protected Government data. We expect to start work early in 2016 with a view to reporting within the year.