Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Law Commission’s influence on Parliamentary law making

Advantages include the fact the Commission is an independent body. It is non-political and is staffed by those with considerable legal expertise so the advice given is focussed on improving the law not for any other political motive. Consultations, detailed research and whole areas of law are considered which mean the Commission work is through and so leads to less mistakes.

A major disadvantage of the Law Commission is their lack of power, with about one third of proposals not implemented and the Government has no obligation to consult the Commission. It can be a very slow process, in 1993 the Commission published a report Offences Against the Person in 1998 the Government consulted on the matter but eventually no reforms were made. The Commission's investigations can be very lengthy themselves which sometimes leads to the results being outdated by the time they are published. There are so many competing areas of law to be considered that the Commission has an overpowering workload.