ENGLISH law is becoming harder than ever for the layman to understand, the Law Commission chairman warned at the launch of Bradford University's Law School.
Sir Roger Toulson said democrats should be worried about reforms that can only be understood by specialists.
He added: "Much modern legislation is more difficult to comprehend than ever before. Law reform is such a low political priority that statut
es and regulations are piled on top of existing laws, rather than looking at the coherence and comprehensibility of the whole. This should be a matter of concern to all democrats and to central Government."
Sir Roger was speaking at the official launch of Bradford University Law School, which attracted an audience of 80 leading legal professionals, educators and business people from the region.
He added: "The great tidal wave of legislation has made many areas of law horribly over-complicated and difficult even for an adviser – such as a Citizens' Advice Bureau – to understand it, let alone the ordinary citizen."
Prof Chris Gale, Director of Legal Studies at the new Law School, added: "It was a great honour to have Sir Roger launch Bradford University Law School with such an outstanding lecture on the law reform and legislative process of today. It reflects the high standards of teaching and debate that we have set for our law school."
The first 50 LLB students enrolled at the school in September 2005 and will be joined by a further 100 students in each year's intake. Other courses are planned for launch in the near future.
Prof Arthur Francis, Dean and Director of the School of Management, said: "Law is the UK's second most popular choice of university degree. As one of Europe's top business schools with an international reputation, it is important for us to have our own law school and we have recruited a leading team of academics to deliver our courses."
Bradford University School of Management regularly appears in the Financial Times' league of business schools. Its executive MBA programme is ranked among the top 10 in the UK and top 20 in Europe.
The university's full-time MBA programme is ranked 11th in Britain and is 65th in the world.
