Law Commissions Act 1965
| Year | 1965 |
Law CommissionsAct 1965
1965 CHAPTER 22
An Act to provide for the constitution of Commissions for the reform of the law.
[15th June 1965]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 The Law Commission.
(1) For the purpose of promoting the reform of the law there shall be constituted in accordance with this section a body of Commissioners, to be known as the Law Commission, consisting of a Chairman and four other Commissioners appointed by the Lord Chancellor.
(2) The persons appointed to be Commissioners shall be persons appearing to the Lord Chancellor to be suitably qualified by the holding of judicial office or by experience as a barrister or solicitor or as a teacher of law in a university.
(3) A person appointed to be a Commissioner shall be appointed for such term (not exceeding five years) and subject to such conditions as may be determined by the Lord Chancellor at the time of his appointment; but a Commissioner may at any time resign his office and a person who ceases to be a Commissioner shall be eligible for reappointment.
(4) A person who holds judicial office may be appointed as a Commissioner without relinquishing that office, but shall not (unless otherwise provided by the terms of his appointment) be required to perform his duties as the holder of that office while he remains a member of the Commission.
(5) In this section ‘the law’ does not include the law of Scotland or any law of Northern Ireland which the Parliament of Northern Ireland has power to amend.
2 The Scottish Law Commission.
(1) For the purpose of promoting the reform of the law of Scotland, there shall be constituted in accordance with this section a body of Commissioners, to be known as the Scottish Law Commission, consisting of a Chairman and not more than four other Commissioners appointed by the Secretary of State and the Lord Advocate.
(2) The persons appointed to be Commissioners shall be persons appearing to the Secretary of State and the Lord Advocate to be suitably qualified by the holding of judicial office or by experience as an advocate or solicitor or as a teacher of law in a university.
(3) A person appointed to be a Commissioner shall be appointed for such term (not exceeding five years) and subject to such conditions as may be determined by the Secretary of State and the Lord Advocate at the time of his appointment; but a Commissioner may at any time resign his office, and a person who ceases to be a Commissioner shall be eligible for reappointment.
(4) A person who holds judicial office may be appointed as a Commissioner without relinquishing that office, but shall not (unless otherwise provided by the terms of his appointment) be required to perform his duties as the holder of that office while he remains a member of the Commission.
(5) Subsection (4) above shall have effect, in relation to a salaried sheriff-substitute, notwithstanding anything in section 21 of the Sheriff Courts (Scotland) Act 1907 (which among other things prohibits such a sheriff-substitute from being appointed to any office except such office as shall be by statute attached to the office of sheriff-substitute).
3 Functions of the Commissions.
(1) It shall be the duty of each of the Commissions to take and keep under review all the law with which they are respectively concerned with a view to its systematic development and reform, including in particular the codification of such law, the elimination of anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments, the reduction of the number of separate enactments and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law, and for that purpose—
(a ) to receive and consider any proposals for the reform of the law which may be made or referred to them;
(b ) to prepare and submit to the Minister from time to time programmes for the examination of different branches of the law with a view to reform, including...
To continue reading
Request your trial