Law Reform in New Zealand

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth J. Keith, Victoria University of Wellington, has posted “Law Reform,” which appeared in Law Stories: Essays on the New Zealand Legal Profession, 1969-2003 (Wellington: LexisNexis NZ, 2003), 353-372.  Here is the abstract:

This chapter, which necessarily looks back to the nineteenth century, attempts to give a sense of the role of New Zealand lawyers in the reform of the law. They participate as Judges, as legislators (especially as ministers of the Crown), as academics, as members of the profession, as concerned public citizens, and as representatives of and advisors to government. That advisory role may be from within, as members of the relevant ministries and departments, or from without, as members of official law reform and comparable bodies set up by government or Parliament. This chapter emphasizes that external advisory role, particularly the work of the New Zealand Law Commission and its predecessors. The author also gives some attention, especially in the first part of the chapter, to officials and members of the practicing profession, whose contributions are also critical.