The Law Commission

PART 2

A REVIEW OF 2005-06

WORK OF THE COMMISSION

Publications in 2005-06

2.1      Reports:

The Forfeiture Rule and the Law of Succession, 27 July 2005 (LC295)

Company Security Interests, 31 August 2005 (LC296)

2.2      Consultation Papers:

A New Homicide Law for England and Wales?, 20 December 2005 (LCCP177)

Post-Legislative Scrutiny, 31 January 2006 (LCCP178)

2.3      Discussion/ Issues/ Scoping Papers:

Insurance Contract Law, 18 January 2006

2.4      Electronic versions of the publications listed above can be accessed from the Law Commission website: www.lawcom.gov.uk/publications

Appointment of Commissioners

2.5      In the period covered by the Annual Report, Sir Roger Toulson agreed to extend his appointment as Chairman until July 2006. In this time he hopes to see the Commission complete the Strategic Review (see paragraph 1.10), finalise its recommendations to Parliament on the structure of the law of homicide, and report on proposals to introduce a formal system for Parliament to review laws after they have been implemented.
2.6      Stuart Bridge was re-appointed by the Lord Chancellor for a further two years. As Commissioner for Property, Family and Trust Law, Stuart will be working towards making recommendations to Parliament on the law as it affects cohabiting couples. He is also hoping to oversee publication of a consultation paper on easements, and to complete the reviews on Trustee Exemption Clauses and Termination of Tenancies before his departure in July 2008.
2.7      In January 2006, we were very pleased to welcome Kenneth Parker QC, who took over as Commissioner for Public Law. He succeeds Professor Martin Partington CBE, who has agreed to stay on as a Special Consultant to complete the housing projects (see Part 7). These projects have involved a huge amount of public consultation, and will result in the creation of a wholly new tenure regime.

Targets 2006-07

2.8      Table 2.1 summarises our main targets for the year 2005-06 and how we met those targets.

Table 2.1

TARGET	OUTCOME
To complete Reports on:
Assisting and Encouraging Crime	Split into two parts. See paras 5.7-5.11.
Company Security Interests	Published August 2005 (LC296).
Forfeiture and Succession	Published July 2005 (LC295).
Illegal Transactions	Work deferred to complete the Company Security Interests Report (LC296). See para 4.14.
Renting Homes	Published May 2006 (LC298).
Termination of Tenancies	Expected to be published in the second half of 2006. See paras 6.8-6.10.
Trustee Exemption Clauses	Expected to be published in Summer 2006. See paras 6.11-6.13.
To complete Consultation Papers on:
Codification of the General Principles of Criminal Law	Work deferred in order to transfer resources to the review on homicide. See para 5.15.
Easements and Land Obligations	The consultation date was deferred for twelve months to allow further scoping work to be done. See paras 6.4-6.7.
Judicial Review of Decisions of the Crown Court	We expect to publish in the second half of 2006. See paras 5.12-5.14.
Resolving Housing Disputes	An issues paper was published April 2006.
To begin the following projects:
Cohabitation	Commenced. See paras 6.1-6.3.
Ensuring Responsible Renting	Commenced. See paras 7.11-7.13.
Feudal Land Law	Deferred. See para 6.19.
Homicide	Commenced. See paras 5.1-5.6.
Insurance Contract Law	Commenced. See paras 4.8-4.10.
Post Legislative Scrutiny	Commenced. See paras 8.20-8.23.
Property Interests in Investment Securities	Commenced. See paras 4.11-4.13.
Citizen's Redress Against Public Bodies	Commenced. See paras 7.2-7.5.

2.9     
2.10     
2.11      Table 2.2 summarises our major targets for 2006-07.

Table 2.2

We expect to publish the following reports:

Our final recommendations on Assisting and Encouraging Crime

Illegal Transactions

Law of Homicide

Post-Legislative Scrutiny

Termination of Tenancies

Trustee Exemption Clauses

We expect to publish the following consultation papers:

Cohabitation

Easements and Land Obligations

Ensuring Responsible Housing

Investment Securities in Property Interests

Judicial Review of Decisions of the Crown Court

Resolving Housing Disputes

We expect to publish the following scoping papers:

Citizen's Redress Against Public Bodies

We expect to commence the following projects:

Feudal Land Law

We expect to publish the following consolidations:

Parliamentary Costs

The most up to date projected publication dates for all projects are available from the Law Commission website: http://www.lawcom.gov.uk