Beyond the British model. Law reform in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa and Israel

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to set the scene for the following special issue, which contains five papers relating to research on law reform in common law and mixed jurisdictions and which forms part of a wider research project (Law Reform Project) carried out within the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), University of London. The first hypothesis of this research was that due to the contrasting way in which the traditions of the British common law have developed within the two mixed jurisdictions examined in this volume (namely South Africa and Israel) and their different connections with the Commonwealth, the concepts of law reform there do differ from one another. The second hypothesis of this research was that, within a homogeneous area (i.e. common law or mixed jurisdictions which all have strong historical and cultural connections with the U.K. in common and which are all members of the Commonwealth), the model of law reform, although rather homogenous, is differently shaped in each of these jurisdictions and goes beyond the British model. The case studies analysed here are New Zealand, Australia, Canada and South Africa. The articles published here seem to support some provisional conclusions on the adoption of law reform processes.