The Law Commission

 


THE LAW COMMISSION

(LAW COM No 294)

ANNUAL REPORT 2004/05

The Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Law Commission

Laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State
for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor pursuant to section 3(3) of the Law Commissions Act 1965

Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed

14 June 2005

The Law Commission was set up by section 1 of the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law.

The Commissioners are: The Honourable Mr Justice Toulson, Chairman

Professor Hugh Beale QC, FBA

Mr Stuart Bridge

Dr Jeremy Horder^[1]

Professor Martin Partington CBE

The Chief Executive of the Law Commission is Mr Steve Humphreys.

The Commission is located at Conquest House, 37-38 John Street, Theobalds Road, London, WC1N 2BQ.



The Law Commission: (from left to right) Standing: Sir Roger Toulson (Chairman), Steve Humphreys, Stuart Bridge and Martin Partington. Seated: Hugh Beale and Jeremy Horder.

The terms of this report were agreed on 12 April 2005.

The text of this report is available on the Internet at: http://www.lawcom.gov.uk

LORD SCARMAN



Leslie Scarman was a great legal figure of the second half of the 20th century. He was born on 29 July 1911; called to the Bar in 1936; became a QC in 1957; was appointed to the High Court bench in 1961, the Court of Appeal in 1973, and the House of Lords in 1977; and retired as Senior Law Lord in 1986. He died on 8 December 2004.

Unlike his other great legal contemporaries, Scarman will not be remembered principally for his judgments. He will be remembered foremost for his personal qualities and for his contributions to law reform. His most creative period of work was during his chairmanship of the Law Commission from its establishment in 1965 until 1973. He was not only the first chairman of the Commission but was the most outstanding and the longest serving holder of the office. Above all, he was concerned with the impact of

the law on the ordinary individual, and he was an early champion of a modern Bill of Rights.

The creation of the Commission by the Law Commissions Act 1965 was viewed with scepticism or distrust by many members of the opposition party. Under Scarman's leadership it acquired a reputation which assured its continued existence and it served as the model for more than 40 similar law reform bodies which are now members of the Commonwealth Association of Law Reform Agencies.

The Commission's first programme set out his manifesto: that the law should be made simpler, more readily accessible, more easily understandable and more certain than it was; that codification and consolidation were to be used to achieve this; that there should be a new and simpler approach to statutory interpretation with an emphasis on common sense; and that if our legal system was to survive as one of the great legal systems of the world, much work needed to be done to bring it in harmony with the social and economic requirements of a modern state. These were bold aims.

Scarman's leadership of the Commission was characterised by openness. Externally, the Commission pioneered the practice of issuing consultation papers before making recommendations, recognising the value of wide consultation in producing wise and acceptable law reform proposals. Internally, Scarman encouraged and enthused all who worked at the Commission to express their views freely. In return, he was greatly loved and admired.

To honour him and to mark the Commission's 40th anniversary this year, the first Scarman Lecture will be delivered on Monday 11 July in Gray's Inn Hall at 5.30pm by Michael Kirby, a Justice of the High Court of Australia since 1996, and first chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 1975 to 1984. All are welcome to attend the lecture, entitled "Law Reform and Human Rights– Scarman's Great Legacy".

contents

	para
A TRIBUTE TO LORD SCARMAN	Foreword
PART 1: THE COMMISSION	PART 1
Who we are	1.1
What we do	1.4
Consultation methods	1.5
Developing the programme	1.6
The Law Commission's role and methods	1.8
Equality and diversity	1.11
Code of best practice for Law Commissioners	1.12
What's in this Annual Report	1.13
PART 2: A REVIEW OF 2004-05	PART 2
Work of the Commission
Publications in 2004-05	2.1
New law reform work	2.5
Quinquennial Review	2.6
Targets 2004-05 and 2005-06	2.7
Major targets and outcomes 2004-05	Table 2.1
Major targets for 2005-06	Table 2.2
Commissioners	2.8
PART 3: IMPLEMENTATION OF LAW COMMISSION REPORTS	PART 3
Introduction	3.1
Action during this period
In summary	3.4
Implemented reports
Business tenancies	3.9
The Effective Prosecution of Multiple Offending	3.10
Execution of Deeds and Documents	3.11
Non-accidental Death of or Serious Injury to Children	3.12
Mental Incapacity	3.14
Reports awaiting implementation	3.15
Aggravated, Exemplary and Restitutionary Damages	3.16
Company Law	3.17
Corruption Offences	3.18
Distress for Rent	3.19
Fraud	3.21
Fraudulent Trading	3.24
Involuntary Manslaughter	3.25
Limitation of Actions	3.26
Offences Against the Person	3.28
Perpetuities and Accumulations	3.29
Responsibility for State and Condition of Property	3.30
Reports awaiting Government decisions	3.32
Compulsory Purchase	3.33
Damages for Personal Injury	3.34
Partial Defences to Murder	3.38
Partnership Law	3.40
Pre-Judgment Interest on Debts and Damages	3.42
Publication of Local Authority Reports	3.43
Third Parties' Rights Against Insurers	3.44
Unfair Contract Terms	3.45
PART 4: COMMERCIAL LAW AND COMMON LAW	PART 4
Unfair contract terms	4.1
Consumer legislation	4.6
Company security interests	4.7
Forfeiture and the law of succession	4.10
Illegal transactions	4.12
PART 5: CRIMINAL LAW, EVIDENCE AND PROCEDURE	PART 5
Assisting and encouraging crime	5.1
Codification of the criminal law	5.2
Partial defences to murder	5.3
Judicial review of crown court decisions	5.7
Misuse of trade secrets	5.11
PART 6: PROPERTY AND TRUST LAW	PART 6
Compulsory purchase project	6.1
Termination of tenancies for tenant default	6.4
Easements and analogous rights	6.7
Trustee exemption clauses	6.10
Capital and income in trusts: classification and apportionment	6.13
The rights of creditors against trustees and trust funds	6.16
Cohabitation	6.19
Feudal land law	6.23
PART 7: PUBLIC LAW TEAM	PART 7
Renting homes	7.1
Resolving housing disputes	7.2
Housing: ensuring responsible renting	7.9
Remedies against public authorities	7.18
Public health	7.21
Publication of local authority inquiry reports	7.22
PART 8: STATUTE LAW	PART 8
Consolidation	8.1
Statute Law Revision	8.12
PART 9: EXTERNAL RELATIONS	PART 9
Parliament, Ministers and Governmental bodies	9.3
Consultees and stakeholders	9.5
Seminars, lectures and conferences, etc.	9.6
Compulsory purchase orders
Contract law
Criminal law
Personal property security interests
Statute law
Trust law
Public law
Socio-legal research	9.8
Scottish Law Commission	9.9
International relations	9.10
PART 10: STAFF AND RESOURCES	PART 10
Recruitment and working patterns	10.1
Staff	10.3
Legal staff	10.4
Research assistants	10.7
Corporate services team	10.8
Library staff	10.12
APPENDIX A: THE LAW COMMISSION'S IMPLEMENTED REPORTS SINCE 1992	Appendix A
APPENDIX B: LAW COMMISSION REPORTS AWAITING IMPLEMENTATION	Appendix B
APPENDIX C: STAFF	Appendix C
APPENDIX D: THE COST OF THE COMMISSION	Appendix D

Note 1    Dr Horder was appointed on 11 January 2005. He succeeds the Honourable Mr Justice Wilkie as Commissioner of the Criminal Law team.    [Back]