ABSTRACT
Law reform commission reports can lead to new legislation. They identify matters which the law needs to cover or which the existing law does not cover adequately, and they may make recommendations as to the form which new legislation should take. At common law, the courts are entitled to look at any relevant report of a law reform commission in order to discover the previous state of the law and the mischief requiring remedy as at the time when legislation consequent upon that report was enacted.1 As we have seen,2 the House of Lords has freed the use of Hansard from some at least of its traditional restrictions, and there are indications that the lifting of restrictions may apply in future to commissions’ reports.3
