English Law Commission Annual Report 2011/12

The most recent annual report of the Law Commission of England is now available.

The report includes highlights of the past year's work. In particular, the Commission saw two pieces of legislation that derive from its work reach the statute book: the Estates of Deceased Persons (Forfeiture Rule and Law of Succession) Act 2011 and the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012.

A number of other reports are awaiting implementation in the areas of trust, marriage breakdown, conspiracy, business partnerships, renting homes, etc.

Part 4 of the report is entitled "Measuring Success" and provides interesting stats about the Commission's influence.

During the 2011 judicial calendar year, Commission reports were cited 310 times in UK judgments, and 38 times in the judgments of other common law jurisdictions.

The authors of the report also note that:

"the Commission’s work is widely quoted in academic journals and the media. A basic search on the internet reveals 512 references made in UK academic journals during the calendar year 2011, and our monitoring service picked up 658 references to the Law Commission from the media during 2011–12. Some of these will be made in support of the Commission; some may not be. At the very least these figures show that the Law Commission is gaining attention and stimulating debate on the issues with which we are tasked to deal. (p. 45)"