Commissions of inquiry and the role of law: towards a materialist approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes a materialist approach to law to clarify the various functions of commissions of inquiry in the capitalist mode of production. I engage with two core claims attributed to Marxist thought: 1) the relationship between the economic structure and the superstructure – the latter being the realm to which laws and legal institutions belong; and 2) the assertion that the legal sphere maintains the class structure that privileges the material interests of the capitalist class. Drawing on examples of past and contemporary commissions, the paper defends a materialist understanding of commissions of inquiry as a valuable framework from which to account for the various recommendations and outcomes of individual commissions. Commissions have the potential to advance considerable democratic and progressive ends but despite these significant potentials, commissions” findings often remain congruent with the essential legal relations upon which the capitalist mode of production is sustained.