The first attempt at institutionalised law reform in New South Wales came in 1870 when the Legislative Assembly supported a motion for the establishment of a Law Reform Commission consisting of five leading lawyers and chaired by the Chief Justice, Sir Alfred Stephen. Constituted by letters patent of 14 July 1870, the Commission was charged with the revision and consolidation of the statute law, the reform of the practice and procedure of the courts, and the removal of inconveniences resulting from separate law and equity jurisdictions.¹ Although this Commission prepared a draft bill to simplify equity procedure and indicated the need for consolidation and reform of lunacy, insolvency and jury laws, the lack of interest within Parliament meant that its only success was the eventual enactment of part of Stephen’s original bill in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1883,² and the Commission itself soon lapsed.

In 1893 a Royal Commission was appointed to consolidate the statute law, although it was not to make or suggest any amendments. The task of consolidation was eventually undertaken by C G Heydon who by 1902 had combined a large number of statutes into 185 consolidating Acts.³ From 1920 to 1931 Professor Peden occupied the position of Commissioner of Law Reform and, while he made several recommendations for - reform, there was little interest in implementing them.⁴ In 1941 another attempt at law reform was made when the Attorney General, C E Martin, appointed a law reform committee which included representatives from the Bar and Law Society and a research officer was appointed to the Attorney General’s Department to investigate the law reform needs of the community and provide data for desirable changes. Neither of these innovations proved successful and for two decades law reform was left to the legal profession which, however, made little headway without research and other institutional support.⁵

Law reform again became a concern of government in 1959. After consultation with the profession and the judiciary a permanent - though part-time - Law Reform Committee was established in 1961 under the chairmanship of Justice L J Herron, who soon afterwards became Chief Justice. The full Committee was to consist of three Supreme Court judges, two District Court judges, two magistrates, two nominees each of the Bar Council and the Law Society, and a member of the Law Faculty of the University of Sydney. Its charter was to recommend reforms, particularly in practice and procedure, which would increase efficiency and economy in the administration of justice. The projects which were undertaken largely related to the reduction of court list congestion, the introduction of the judicature system, reform of the law of evidence, and changes to motor vehicle negligence actions, although a wide range of procedural matters was also examined. The Committee resolved itself into 16 sub-committees, each of which considered a particular project and reported back to the full body for consideration of its proposals. By November 1966 when the Committee ceased operation, eleven interim reports had been issued and all but one of the sub-committees had made a report to the parent body. Several of the reforms recommended by the Committee were implemented by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1965. Furthermore, the sub-committees produced much valuable research which was used in later examinations of the subjects under consideration. According to Professor David Benjafield, who served on the Committee, the chief deficiencies of the Committee were that it was limited to considering matters of procedure unless other matters were referred to it by the Attorney-General; that it was recruited on a part-time and purely voluntary basis, with virtually no research facilities; and that it often produced majority and minority reports which the Government felt were unsafe to implement in the absence of unanimity.⁶