Roger Partridge writes – Should judges stick to applying the law, or should they reshape it to reflect society’s values? This fundamental tension over judicial power was laid bare at a New Zealand Law Society webinar this month about what it takes to become a High Court judge. Comments from the country’s two senior legal […]
Attorney-General and Chief Justice reveal contrasting visions of judicial power
Attorney-General and Chief Justice reveal contrasting visions of judicial power
23 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
The Presidential Bicameral Adjournment Clause Is Almost An American Equivalent to Prorogation
22 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: constitutional law
An American Connection Over the last thirteen years, I have been pleasantly surprised to find that Parliamentum attracts a surprising number of readers from the United States, about one-quarter to one-third of the total depending on the year. I occasionally write on American topics, but mainly on British North American history and how Canada or […]
The Presidential Bicameral Adjournment Clause Is Almost An American Equivalent to Prorogation
Do the KCs believe in democracy
22 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Liam Hehir points out: Forty-two senior lawyers, known as King’s Counsel, have written to the government with a scathing critique of the Treaty Principles Bill. Their letter raises a number of concerns with which I am in full agreement. However, they also make a statement about Parliament’s law-making authority that contains a fundamental and egregious […]
Do the KCs believe in democracy
Hikoi organiser rebuffs Seymour while a bloke named Jones (no, not Shane) says he understands the Māori Party’s frustration
19 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Bob Edlin writes – Associate Justice Minister David Seymour “refused” Morning Report’s invitation to be interviewed on RNZ’s Morning Report, the day after the Treaty Principles Bill he is promoting had passed its first reading in Parliament after “a fiery debate and vote”. No matter. There were plenty of other people all too eager to […]
Hikoi organiser rebuffs Seymour while a bloke named Jones (no, not Shane) says he understands the Māori Party’s frustration
DON BRASH: A picture paints a thousand words
16 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
A picture paints a thousand words and the photograph above is a snapshot of the most disgraceful reading of a Bill I can recall in New Zealand’s history. The Treaty Principles Bill is not the first controversial and polarising Bill to have been introduced to New Zealand’s Parliament. We have debated abortion, same-sex marriage, and…
DON BRASH: A picture paints a thousand words
Hikoi organiser will walk in the name of the Treaty – but not talk about it (at least, not to people who lack “expertise”)
13 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Source: TheFacts Bob Edlin writes- An editorial in The Press – reproduced in The Post – acknowledged that it should be possible to have a respectful, informed national conversation about the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi and its application in present-day New Zealand. This would include such fundamental questions as whether an ongoing partnership […]
Hikoi organiser will walk in the name of the Treaty – but not talk about it (at least, not to people who lack “expertise”)
A Shift in Time Saves Nine: How The Trump Election Impacts the Supreme Court
09 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
Below is my column in Fox.com on the impact of the reelection of Donald Trump and the flipping of the Senate for the Supreme Court. The election may have proven one of the most critical for the Court in its history. Here is the column:
A Shift in Time Saves Nine: How The Trump Election Impacts the Supreme Court
Free Speech meets “Fit and Proper” in NZ
05 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, free speech, gun control
So there is a reason why I should read the local MSM, especially when it’s really local, as in the Waikato Times. However, I saw the story first in the US-based libertarian publication Reason and of course their headline was much different than the story which they linked to, New Zealand Government Punishes Gun Owners […]
Free Speech meets “Fit and Proper” in NZ
Maybe NZ’s Minister of Justice is Right. When Parliament Can’t Make Laws, the people have no choice but to take the Law into their Own Hands.
31 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Not so long ago, the Labour Party’s Deputy PM Sir Michael Cullen stated in no uncertain terms in Parliament that sovereignty was ceded in the Treaty of Waitangi. According to his Labour Party, “The power of the NZ Parliament to change the law is central to the exercise of sovereignty and therefore the contemporary exercise…
Maybe NZ’s Minister of Justice is Right. When Parliament Can’t Make Laws, the people have no choice but to take the Law into their Own Hands.
Sir Apirana Ngata on The Treaty
21 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Sir Apirana Ngata is on our $50 note. He was a lawyer and then was the MP for Eastern Maori for almost 40 years. He was Minister of Native Affairs for six years.He made huge contributions to Maori land reform, language and culture. He also wrote a booklet in 1922 on the Treaty of Waitangi, […]
Sir Apirana Ngata on The Treaty
GARY JUDD KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer
19 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
My oral submission to the Regulation Review Committee. Yesterday [Oct 16], Parliament’s Regulation Review Committee heard oral submissions concerning my complaint to the Committee asking that a member of the committee move a resolution asking the House of Representatives to disallow the regulations promulgated by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. If the regulations…
GARY JUDD KC: A student should not be forced to learn about tikanga to be a lawyer
Judd on Tikanga
18 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Who makes the law? New report challenges Supreme Court’s expanding role
17 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
News from the New Zealand Initiative – A new report from The New Zealand Initiative warns of a looming constitutional crisis in New Zealand, as the Supreme Court increasingly oversteps its bounds, threatening the balance of power between the courts and Parliament. The report, “Who Makes the Law? Reining in the Supreme Court,” authored by […]
Who makes the law? New report challenges Supreme Court’s expanding role
“No Kidding! No Joke!” Liberals Call on Biden to Commit Unconstitutional Acts in his Final Days
14 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in law and economics, politics - USA Tags: 2024 presidential election, constitutional law
With the end of the Biden Administration in sight, liberal pundits seem to be striving to prove that the only difference between a law-breaker and a law-abiding citizen is the ability to get away with the crime. Popular figures on the left from Michael Moore to Keith Olbermann are calling on President Joe Biden to […]
“No Kidding! No Joke!” Liberals Call on Biden to Commit Unconstitutional Acts in his Final Days
DON BRASH: WAS SOVEREIGNTY CEDED IN 1840?
11 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law
I watched Tuesday night’s debate between David Seymour, Leader of the ACT Party, and Helmut Modlik, an iwi leader, with dismay. On the one hand, David Seymour argued with compelling logic the need to resolve once and for all whether New Zealanders enjoy equal political rights or whether, as Helmut Modlik argued, those with…
DON BRASH: WAS SOVEREIGNTY CEDED IN 1840?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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