Govt plans Law Commission for legal reform

The Gibraltar Government plans to create a Law Commission in Gibraltar to advise on legal reform and the modernisation of outdated laws.
The government will today publish draft legislation to establish a Law Commission made up of professionals and experts who will be able to give their opinion on a number specific issues relating to legal reform.
One of its first tasks will be to draw up sentencing laws specific to Gibraltar rather than rely on UK guidelines.
“It is intended that one of the first, if not the first project that the Commission will be requested to undertake, will be to review local sentencing laws to ensure that they cater for the needs of Gibraltar, rather than being tied to sentencing guidelines, which have evolved for another jurisdiction with its own particular issues that do not necessarily apply to Gibraltar,” said Justice Minister Neil Costa.
The Law Commission created under this legislation will be a statutory body comprised of at least six persons who will be tasked to:
• receive and consider proposals for the reform of the law;
• undertake the examination of particular branches of the law and formulate proposals for reform, codify the law and eliminate anomalies;
• propose the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments;
• and generally provide advice and information to the Government of Gibraltar on the reform or amendment of any branch of the law.
The Law Commission will also be the mechanism used to meet a GSLP/Liberal manifesto commitment to further review legislation on Gibraltar’s statute book which has not been revised for some time.
“This Bill is intended to create a statutory body made up of myself, HM Attorney General and experts in different fields,” Mr Costa said.
“The Commission will be tasked with examining various areas of laws, which may either be obsolete due to the passage of time since they appeared on the statute books, or require amendment due to particular local circumstances.”