Law Reform

Law reform can be defined as the process of examining existing laws and implementing changes in a Legal System. The usual aim of law reform is to enhance justice or change the efficiency of a law. Law reform is a vital part in any legal system and for any nation and is an important leader in ensuring that laws are applied practically and in the right situation, and that those laws achieve justice.
Organisations set up to aid in law reform are called Law Reform Bodies, Agents or Commissions. These organisations carry out research and recommend ways to simplify and modernise the law. Several different Law reform agencies in Australia include the Courts, Parliament, Coroner, Royal Commissions, Lobby Groups and the Ombudsman.
One agency, the NSWLRC (New South Wales Law Reform Commission), was set up in 1967 by the Law Reform Commission Act 1967 (NSW). Its responsibility is to consider NSW laws with the aim to eliminate defects in laws, eliminate laws which are out of date or aren’t modern enough to proved sufficient justice, to simplify the law, and to adopt new and effective means of administrating law. The NSWLRC does not have the power to initiate inquiries and can only investigate laws after a request from the Attorney-General, but can recommend areas of investigation to the Attorney-General to consider. Once the commission has permission to inquire it will widely publicise the issue, consult organisations and the public, identify defects in the law, then report to the Attorney-General with recommendations. For any of these inquiries to become a change in a law, the Parliament must be informed, who then implement any law changes.
Courts can also implement law reform. The main role of the courts is to interpret laws and apply the law which has been provided by parliament however, judges can, through deciding new precedents, operate as a law reform agency. Judges are free to criticise the law and to suggest reform of the law. If the parliament does not like the...