Law Reform is the process of reviewing, developing and changing the law to bring it into line with current conditions (i.e. removing outdated laws or introducing new laws to support the regulation of something new).
Law reform publications are highly valuable to legal research as they are very detailed and the topics contained within them are often of high importance and of current interest.
Often the recommendations contained within law reform reports are accepted by the executive government and become the basis of future legislation.
The Law Reform Research Guide provides links to many Law Reform resources.
Australian Law Reform Commission
There are a number of law reform commissions throughout all jurisdictions. The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has the task of reviewing Commonwealth laws for the purposes of systematically developing and reforming the law, particularly by (see, s 21 Australian Law Reform Commission Act 1996 (Cth)):
i) bringing the law into line with current conditions and ensuring that it meets current needs; and
ii) removing defects in the law; and
iii) simplifying the law; and
iv) adopting new or more effective methods for administering the law and dispensing justice; and
v) providing improved access to justice.
The ALRC's website states that the ALRC "is a federal agency that reviews Australia's laws to ensure they provide improved access to justice for all Australians by making laws and related processes more equitable, modern, fair and efficient".
Law Reform Commission Reports
There is a range of sources for accessing Law Reform Commission reports:
Australian Law Reform Commission (under the Publications menu)
AustLII
HeinOnline's Australian Law Reform Commission Library (ALRC)
You need to be aware of all of these, as no one source is comprehensive.
Law Reform Commission Publications
Each state has its own Law Reform Commission, in addition to the Australian Law Reform Commission.
Many Law Reform Commission publications are available on each Commission's website under the Publications section.
Each website operates a little differently, but browsing through the website to locate the relevant document is a fairly simple process across all commissions.
Australian Law Reform Commission PublicationsTask: 2020 ALRC Final Report on corporate crime |
Western Australian Law Reform Commission PublicationsTask: 2020 Final Report concerned with wrongful death |
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Step 1: From the Law Reform Commission homepage select Publications.
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Step 1: From the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia homepage click on the magnifying glass search icon, in the top right hand corner, for Search
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Step 2: Click on the magnifying glass search icon, in the top right hand corner, for Search
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Step 2: Add search terms e.g. wrongful death
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Step 3: Add search terms e.g. corporate crime
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Step 3: Filter the results by Organisation: Law Reform Commission of Western Australia Information type: Independent report
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Step 4: Filter the results by Publication Type: Final Report
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Step 4: Results will appear below and here you can easily see the title and the publication date.
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Step 5: Results will appear below and here you can easily see the title and the publication date.
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Step 5: Click on the title of the report to be taken to a list of publications related to this Inquiry. The Project page includes:
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Step 6: Click on the title of the report to be taken to a list of publications related to this Inquiry.
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| Note: This Final Report is also available from AustLII. Access from the Australian Law Report Commission website includes access to submissions and more details about the Inquiry |
Law Reform Publications on AustLII
AustLII contains a collection of Australian law reform materials from Australasian jurisdictions.
To access the materials follow these steps:
Step 1: On the AustLII homepage, select Law Reform from the red banner.
Step 2: You will be taken to the Australasian Law Reform Library. Here you will find a large number of law reform commission publications listed under Australian Law Reform Resources and New Zealand Law Reform Resources. You can choose to view only Australian or New Zealand law reform resources by making the appropriate selection at the top of the screen.
You can choose to browse these publications individually, or you can search them individually or as a group.
Commonwealth Law Reform Reports |
Western Australian Law Reform Reports |
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To Search a limited selection of law reform databases, deselect all by clicking on the blue check box next to Select/Clear All on the right-hand side of the page. Then select the check box next to the title of the database(s) you wish to search, for example, Australian Law Reform Commission Reports (ALRC) 1975- if you wish to search for reports of the ALRC. Next enter your search terms in the search box above the Databases heading and then complete your search.
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Western Australian Law Reform materials are yet to be uploaded to AustLII (as at July 2021). Historical publications can be accessed from the Australasian Law Reform Library. Step 1: Select Western Australia under Catalogue and Websearch on the right-hand side of the page.
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To Browse for a particular publication, click on the blue hyperlinked title of the database. The publications will be listed by date, beginning with the most recent. If you wish to view the results by year, select the "Any" box next to Specific Year and then select the relevant year. If you wish to browse by title, you can select the Starts with tab from the red banner and then choose the relevant starting letter of the publication in which you are interested.
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Step 2: Select Law Reform Commission of Western Australia
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Step 3: From the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia homepage scroll down to Publications. Select Reports and Papers
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Step 4: Reports can be browsed by number.
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Law Reform Publications on HeinOnline
HeinOnline contains a collection of Australian law reform materials from Australasian jurisdictions.
To access the materials follow these steps:
Step 1: On the HeinOnline homepage, select Australian Law Reform Commission Library (ALRC) from the menu.
Select the Library again from the pop out.
Step 2: You will be taken to the Australian Law Reform Commission Library (ALRC).
There are two tabs for Browsing.
The default opens on the Subject list.
You can also choose the Titles tab to browse.
For this example, we are going to use the Search function to source the 2020 ALRC Final Report on corporate crime.
Navigate to the Search box in the top right hand corner of the screen
Step 3: Add search terms e.g. "corporate crime"
Select the first suggestion to Just search for: "corporate crime"
Step 4: Results will appear below and here you can easily see the title and the publication date.
The results are displayed with the most relevant publication first as the default.
Document title and date are also results sorting options.
The first result is a report entitled Corporate Criminal Responsibility Final Report, published in 2020.
The search is across all content, so each instance of the search term appearing is included in the results list.
Step 5: Click on the title of the report to be taken to the report.
Each section of the report is available as a downloadable PDF.
Australian Law Reform Commissions
Information about other Australian Law Reform Commissions can be found at these links:
Other Law Reform Commissions
There are many other Law Reform Commissions around the globe that may be of relevance to your research, particularly when comparing laws from various jurisdictions.
Some key resources for finding international law reform materials include:
- World Law Reform Database (British Columbia Law Institute) - index to publications of law reform agencies in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States (some reports may not be available online);
- WorldLII Law Reform Project - Searches across law reform databases hosted on the Legal Information Institutes (LIIs). Includes only a handful of common law jurisdictions at this time;
- Law Commission (UK).