31 Government Documents
Kate Thompson and Melanie Lovich
Law Reform Materials
The New Zealand Law Commission | Te Aka Matua o te Ture is an independent body whose function is to review the law and make recommendations to the Government to improve it.[1] “It has the power to initiate proposals for the review, reform or development of any aspect of the law of New Zealand.”[2]
The Law Commission’s website is searchable and contains reports and publications since 1987. NZLII also contains a New Zealand Law Reform Library, including historical materials dating from before the Law Commission was formed. In certain circumstances, law-reform materials along with the relevant parliamentary documents may be used to help interpret legislation.
The Law Commission reports and study papers are a rich source of information. Their extensive research outputs include bibliographies, research in comparative jurisdictions and legal expert consultations. Some reports are now quite old, so consider currency when you consult them for your research.
Example of law reform in action
The Commission’s report Company Law: Reform and Restatement (NZLC R9, 1989) examined and reviewed the law relating to bodies incorporated under the Companies Act 1955 and reported on the form and content of a new Companies Act. Their recommendations were implemented in the Companies Act 1993, the Receiverships Act 1993 and in amendments to the Property Law Act 1952 and the Companies Act 1955. In 2024, the Minister of Justice asked the Commission to undertake a review of the Companies Act 1993 directors’ duties and liabilities.
Policy Documents
Public policy documents such as reports, discussion papers and working papers may reference key legislation and statistical data and provide valuable background on matters relating to justice, social issues, international relations, government regulation and more. You may find policy documents on government and non-profit organisation websites. Many will have internal search engines to help you locate publications; alternatively, use a Google site search, for example "mental health" adoption site:govt.nz will only retrieve results regarding mental health and adoption from government departments in New Zealand.
Government department websites always focus on the most up-to-date information available, but for researchers, looking at older policies can be a powerful way to understand decisions of the day. The Wayback Machine, from the Internet Archive, has been scraping and saving specific pages from the internet since the late 1990s and is an excellent tool to help locate older policy documents.
