Value of Law Reform Commissions

I like reports written by law reform commissions, whether here in Canada or from other jurisdictions.

As independent bodies, they often have the time to dive deep into an issue and look at its historical evolution and they often do a comparative analysis of what authorities in other countries have tried to do.

These organizations make recommendations to governments that can go a long way to improve access to justice, modernize the justice system, and reduce harm for vulnerable groups.

A few years ago, the Law Commission of England and Wales asked economists to try to quantify the benefits generated by the projects that it had undertaken over the years.

The Commission recently published an update:

"The report establishes that the Law Commission’s projects make a difference in myriad ways: efficiency gains, technology driven growth, harm prevention, well-being improvement, rule of law, access to justice, modernising the legal system and thought leadership (...) The estimated economic gains from the five highest value projects completed since 2019 is about £670 million over 10 years."

The projects include new rules on surrogacy, confiscation of the proceeds of crime, simplifying the rules for marriage, simplification of immigration rules, and anti-money laundering changes.