Law Commission of India

Background and evolution

The first Law Commission was set up in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833, with Thomas Babington Macaulay as its chairman. It drafted the Indian Penal Code, which was enacted in 1860. Three more commissions in the nineteenth century prepared codes on civil procedure, contracts, evidence and property, giving British India a uniform legal system.

After independence, the first Law Commission of the Republic was set up in 1955 with M. C. Setalvad, then the Attorney General, as chairman. Its 14th report (1958) on judicial administration remains a landmark. Since then, commissions have been reconstituted regularly by government orders, each with a chairperson, usually a retired judge, full-time members and part-time members.

Key features and provisions

• Nature: an executive body created by a resolution of the Ministry of Law and Justice; it is not created by the Constitution or by a statute.
• Term: usually three years.
• Composition: a chairperson (often a retired Supreme Court judge or High Court Chief Justice), full-time members, a member-secretary, and ex officio members such as the Law Secretary.
• Functions: identify obsolete laws, suggest new laws, study legal aspects of policy, examine issues referred by the government or the Supreme Court, and recommend reforms to improve justice delivery.
• Method: issues consultation papers, invites public responses and submits reports to the government.
• Status of reports: advisory; the government may accept, modify or ignore them.