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New Zealand's laws are in a dilapidated state and need urgent renovation, the Law Commission says.
The Government's independent legal advice body yesterday issued a discussion paper which called for a thorough revision of the statute book - something which has not been done since 1908.
Such a review would scrap obsolete legislation, remove inconsistencies and ensure laws were consistent, Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer said. The review should create basic things such as an official index to legislation.
"People of ordinary education, who are not lawyers, should be able to locate our relevant statute law and be able to read it. That is barely possible in New Zealand as things stand," Sir Geoffrey said.
Other countries carried out such reviews, but "inertia" had foiled efforts for a revamp of New Zealand law, Sir Geoffrey said.
"It's just human nature. When you've got it on the books you don't tend to look at it, you tend to do something else. When you are an old democracy, as New Zealand now is, you accumulate a lot of legislative detritus."
Law Commissioner John Burrows said the law was not just for politicians and lawyers - journalists, educational institutes, government departments and local authorities all used regularly used statutes.
"Some statutes still on the books are drafted in a very complex way. I can show you stuff about 50 years old which has sentences over 200 words long with barely any punctuation.
"Nobody, not even a lawyer or a judge, can understand that on first reading."
The closing date for public submissions on the report is November 12.
SPRING CLEANINGTHE LAW
* There are about 1100 acts in force in New Zealand.
* Many are obsolete, such as the District Railways Purchasing Act of 1885.
* Some laws cover many areas: five separate acts could cover something like a faulty car bought on hire purchase.
* The Social Security Act 1964 has been amended so many times, and has so many inserts, that it is almost impossible to close the bound copy of the act.
* The longest sentence in a New Zealand law is over 700 words long.
