Change or no-change? Reflections on the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990
The passing of the Courts and Legal Services Act through Parliament on l November 1990 was the culmination of an extraordinarily well-orchestrated and determined political process. Irrespective of the effect of the legislation on the working of the courts or the legal profession, its enactment was a dramatic example of the parliamentary process in action. The fill details of that process and the parts played by the various actors in it will not be known until official records are available in 30 years time. What we do already know, from the published record, is that at least certain provisions of the Act and the policy discussions that preceded it generated an extraordinary degree of hostility, much of it directed against the Lord Chancellor himself. l The Act itself is 'framework' legislation, in two senses of that term: in the technical sense, it provides the legal basis for much delegated legislation; in the practical sense, it purports to set the context within which legal services and the work of the courts are to be set in the years to come. It is a complex piece of legislation, dealing with a wide variety of matters. This note cannot offer a detailed summary of the Act itself; what it does attempt is a preliminary analysis of the likely significance of the Act.2 Comment here will focus on three main issues: the courts; competition in legal services; and consumer protection. At the end of this note, brief mention will be made of certain matters the Act did not address and some conclusions will be drawn.