Reform and Parliamentary Procedures

Abstract

This chapter examines the prospects for future reform of aspects of property law by analysing experience in Parliament of reforming measures. Few will question the need for accelerated measures to reform a number of aspects of property law in England and Wales. A lack of principle is then evident in the reforms that are made and the defects which rushed legislation often throw up can create a barrier to further parliamentary action and make further principled reform more difficult to achieve. The Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1995 and the continuing back-bench pressure for common hold are all products of this basic fact. Reform through the mechanism of a Private Member's Bill introduced in the House of Commons is more problematical. The lessons for the Special Standing Committee procedure are that the Government was right in insisting on consensus for the Bills taking this route.