The Northern Ireland Law Commission was a

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

created under section 50 of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, implementing recommendations following the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

. It replaced the non-statutory

Law Reform Advisory Committee The Law Reform Advisory Committee was a body that reviewed the civil law in Northern Ireland, with a view to making recommendations for law reform. It was the equivalent in Northern Ireland of the Law Commission in England and Wales or in Scotland ...

. The Commission has been "non-operational" since April 2015. The Northern Ireland Law Commission kept the

law of Northern Ireland The law of Northern Ireland is the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a distinct jurisdiction in 1921. Prior to 1921, Northern Ireland was part of ...

under review, with a view to

law reform Law reform or legal reform is the process of examining existing laws, and advocating and implementing change in a legal system, usually with the aim of enhancing justice or efficiency. Intimately related are law reform bodies or law commissions, w ...

. It had five members, a part-time chairman and four full-time commissioners, appointed by the

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

. The chairman was a judge of the

High Court of Northern Ireland The courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland: they are constituted and governed by the law of Northern Ireland. Prior to the partition of Ireland, Northern Ir ...

, who retained judicial office. The other commissioners were a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, a legal academic, and a layperson.

References

External links

*
Section 50
of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 Law of Northern Ireland Government of Northern Ireland Law commissions Law reform in the United Kingdom {{NorthernIreland-org-stub