Law reform is a process whereby the commission examines the laws of a state and makes recommendations or proposals for changing the laws. These proposals then go to the government and they may then choose to implement the proposal.
Government, in terms of law reform, is not the same as government the way Americans think of it. In a parliamentary system, government refers to the governing party. For example, in Britain Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the government. His government was formed from the Labour Party. Many other governments are formed from a coalition of different political parties and the majority coalition is referred to as the government. It is the government who gives the law reform commissions their assignments and in turn receives the end product from the commission.
The South African Law Reform Comission (SALRC)
The SALRC was created by the South African Law Reform Commission Act 19 of 1973 (which means it is actually older than the South Africa we know today, which was formed after the end of apartheid in 1994).
Section 4 of the Act sets out the SALRC's goals: "To do research with reference to all branches of the law of the Republic and to study and investigate all such branches in order to make recommendations for the development, improvement, modernisation or reform there of..." specifically it will make recommendations on: "the repeal of obsolete or unnecessary provisions; the removal of anomalies; the bringing about of uniformity in the law in force in the various parts of the Republic; the consolidation or codification of any branch of the law; and steps aimed at making the common law more readily available."
This means that the SALRC is essentially an advisory body. The enactment of its reforms is the responsibility of the government.
So I will be working on examining the various laws relating to or effecting Hindu marriages. I'm looking forward to learning more about a new legal system and how different laws are implicated in this area.
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