ANNEX
LETTER INCLUDED IN ANNEX
Letter from Professor David Miers, Cardiff
Law School to the Clerk of the Committee
The Chairman asked whether I would let him have any
further observations. I have two that the Committee may wish to
consider. They are:
(a) in the case of proposals to remove burdens
from public bodies, an additional safeguard against the inappropriate
dilution of their statutory duties is to require unanimity between
the two Committees in respect of all of the issues raised by the
proposal; and
(b) in the case of proposals to alter the
common law by way of the order making power, a greater degree
of legal certainty in the outcome would be
(i) to require the department as a matter of
course to consult the Law Commission, and
(ii) to require that the Law Commission approve the
proposal (possibly with its own amendments) before the department
proceeds with it.
Thinking further about this broad proposal, I feel
almost wholly persuaded that it would not be appropriate to seek
alterations to the common law without referring to the body whose
statutory duty is to keep the law under review.
13 April 1999
|
