Law reform in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the way that law reform is – and has been – made in the Israeli legal system. Israel has a mixed legal system which reflects a mixture of Civil Law and Common Law traditions. This mixture is also manifested in the state's approach to law reform, as there is no permanent commission responsible for law reform and, in fact, no definition of law reform. This article reviews the historical developments of the Israeli legal system, with the absorption of the Ottoman and British Mandatory Law into the Israeli legal system, followed by major efforts in the 1960–1970s, undertaken by the legislative department in the Ministry of Justice with the assistance of ‘ad hoc’ legislative commissions, to create a ‘new’ Israeli legislation – ‘codification style’ – especially in the field of civil law. It then examines the rise of the private legislative initiatives in the early 1990s, the role of the court in judicial law-making and the role of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. It is claimed that law reform in Israel is all but ‘systematic’. However, the authors do not call for establishing a permanent law reform commission, but rather to develop a model of law reform that would include objectives, strategies, resources, participants and their appointment and responsibilities. Additionally, the high number of private bills should be reduced and the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which is the central obstacle for non-governmental law initiatives, must act on a transparent basis. In other word, they suggest that, in Israel, law reform needs a form.