Law Reform Committee

This article is about the body established in 1952. Not to be confused with the Law Commission for England and Wales established in 1965.

The Law Reform Committee was a committee in England and Wales appointed by the Lord Chancellor^[1] "to consider, having regard especially to judicial decisions, what changes are desirable in such legal doctrines as the Lord Chancellor may from time to time refer to Committee".^[2]

The Lord Chancellor's decision to create this committee was announced on 2 May 1952 by the Attorney General, Lionel Heald, at the dinner of the West Surrey Law Society. The Solicitors Journal said that the proposed step was "overdue".^[3] The Committee was appointed on 16 June 1952.^[4] In 2006, John Wheeler said that the Committee was "defunct".^[5]

Composition

Six members of the Committee were judges, two were Queen's Counsel, two were solicitors and the remaining three were professors of law.^[5]

Reports

Law Reform Committee reports

Report	Subject	Command paper	Date	Implementing act
1st	Statute of Frauds and Section 4 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893	Cmd. 8809	1953	Law Reform (Enforcement of Contracts) Act 1954[6]
2nd	Innkeepers' liability for property of travellers, guests and residents[7]	Cmd. 916	May 1954	Hotel Proprietors Act 1956
3rd	Occupiers' liability to invitees, licensees and trespassers	Cmd. 9305	November 1954	Occupiers' Liability Act 1957[8]
4th	Rule against perpetuities	Cmnd. 18	1956	Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964[9]
5th	Conditions and exceptions in insurance policies	Cmnd. 62	1957
6th	Courts' power to sanction variations of trusts	Cmnd. 310	1957
7th	Effect of tax liability on damages[10]	Cmnd. 501	August 1958
8th	Formalities of contracts by non-trading corporations[11]	Cmnd. 622	1958
9th	Liability in tort between husband and wife	Cmnd. 1268	January 1961
10th	Innocent misrepresentation	Cmnd. 1782	1962	Misrepresentation Act 1967[12][13]
11th	Loss of services	Cmnd. 2017	1963	Section 2 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982[14]
12th	Transfer of title to chattels	Cmnd. 2958	April 1966	Not implemented by 2006[5]
13th	Hearsay evidence in civil proceedings	Cmnd. 2964	May 1966
14th	Acquisition of easements and profits by prescription	Cmnd. 3100	October 1966
15th	The Rule in Hollington v. Hewthorn	Cmnd. 3391	September 1967
16th	Privilege in civil proceedings	Cmnd. 3472	December 1967
17th	Evidence of opinion and expert evidence	Cmnd. 4489	October 1970
18th	Conversion and detinue	Cmnd. 4774	September 1971	Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 (partial and modified effect).[15]
19th	Interpretation of wills	Cmnd. 5301	May 1973	sections 20 and 21 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982[16]
20th	Interim report on limitation of actions: In personal injury claims	Cmnd. 5630	May 1974
21st	Final report on limitation of actions	Cmnd. 6923	September 1977	Limitation Amendment Act 1980.[17]
22nd	The making and revocation of wills	Cmnd. 7902	May 1980	section 17 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982[18]
23rd	The powers and duties of trustees	Cmnd. 8733	October 1982
24th	Latent damage	Cmnd. 9390	November 1984	Latent Damage Act 1986[19]

See also

• Law commission
• Law Commissions Act 1965

References

Sources

• Blair, Michael C. "The Law Reform Committee: The First Thirty Years" (1982) 1 Civil Justice Quarterly 64
• Andrew S Burrows. Clerk & Lindsell on Torts. Sixteenth Edition. Sweet & Maxwell. London. 1989.
• Sir Robert Megarry and Sir William Wade and Charles Harpum and Stuart Bridge and Martin Dixon. The Law of Real Property. Seventh Edition. Sweet & Maxwell. London. 2008.

Citations

1. The Solicitors Journal. Volume 96. Page 418. Published in No 26 dated 28 June 1952.
2. Law Reform Committee. Third Report (Occupiers' Liability to Invitees, Licensees and Trespassers). Cmd 9305. HMSO. London. November 1954. Page 5.
3. The Solicitors Journal. Volume 96. Page 285. Published in No 19 dated 10 May 1952.
4. Law Reform Committee. Third Report (Occupiers' Liability to Invitees, Licensees and Trespassers). Cmd 9305. HMSO. London. November 1954. Page 5.
5. John Wheeler. Essentials of the English Legal System. Pearson Education. 31 December 2006. Page 349 from Google Books.
6. Actionstrength Ltd (t/a Vital Resources) v. International Glass Engineering In.Gl.En. SpA & Ors [2003] UKHL 17, [2003] 2 AC 541, [2003] 2 WLR 1060, [2003] 2 All ER 615, [2003] BLR 207, 88 Con LR 208, [2003] 1 CLC 1003, [2003] 2 All ER (Comm) 331 (3 April 2003)
7. Blom-Cooper, L. J. (1955). "Second Report of the Law Reform Committee on the Law of Innkeepers' Liabilities for Property of Travellers, Guests and Residents. (Cmd. 9161; May 1954; 4d.)". The Modern Law Review. 18 (4): 374–379. ISSN 0026-7961.
8. Andrew Tettenborn. Clerk & Lindsell on Torts. Sixteenth Edition. Sweet & Maxwell. London. 1989. Paragraph 13-02 at page 708.
9. Deech, Ruth (1984). "The Rule against Perpetuities Abolished". Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 4 (3): 454–463. ISSN 0143-6503.
10. Jolowicz, J. A. (1959). "Damages and Income Tax". The Cambridge Law Journal. 17 (1): 86–98. ISSN 0008-1973.
11. Wade, H. W. R. (1959). "Contracts by Non-Trading Corporations. Formalities. Law Reform". The Cambridge Law Journal. 17 (1): 28–30. ISSN 0008-1973.
12. Goodhart, Arthur L. (1964). "Liability for Innocent but Negligent Misrepresentations". The Yale Law Journal. 74 (2): 286–301. doi:10.2307/794781. ISSN 0044-0094.
13. Atiyah, P. S.; Treitel, G. H. (1967). "Misrepresentation Act 1967". The Modern Law Review. 30 (4): 369–388. ISSN 0026-7961.
14. F v Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council and Another [1991] Fam 69, [1991] 2 WLR 1132
15. Burrows 1989, Paragraphs 22-08 and 22-09 at page 1224
16. Megarry et al. 2008, Note 312 and 316 to paragraph 14-064 at page 580 and note 326 to paragraph 14-067 at page 581.
17. Megarry et al. 2008, Note 31 to paragraph 35-003 at page 1412.
18. Megarry et al. 2008, Note 72 to paragraph 14-015 at page 559.
19. Burrows 1989; Note 49 to paragraph 9-55 at page 418.