B3.1.4 New Zealand: The Justice System
Description
This article is from the New Zealand FAQ, by Phil Stuart-Jones and Lin Nah with numerous contributions by others.
B3.1.4 New Zealand: The Justice System
There is a four-level hearings and appeals system:
Top level Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (London)
|
Court of Appeal (Wellington)
|
High Court (in all cities)
|
Bottom level District Courts (most towns)
There is also the Small Claims Court which handles smaller personal
disputes.
Civil and criminal cases start in the District or High Court, depending on
their seriousness and appeals go up the chain. Certain rare cases can
start in the Court of Appeal. District and High Court judges sit alone or
with juries. The Court of Appeal (and on certain rare occasions the High
Court) consists of three or five judges sitting "en banc". The Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council consists mainly of British Law Lords with
New Zealand judges also sitting in New Zealand cases; in theory its
decisions merely "opinions" for the benefit of the monarch as the fount of
all justice, but in practice its rulings have the force of ultimate appeal.
All judges are appointed by the government - High Court judges are
nominated by the Law Society, but District Court judges apply for the job
like any other. Various special-purpose courts (Industrial Court, Maori
Land Court, Family Court, etc.) exist and have the same status as either a
District Court or the High Court.
For the NZ Statutes:
http://io.kete.co.nz/gpprint/gptop.htm
and there's a pointer to it from http://www.govt.nz/
Organisation Membership
New Zealand is a member of the following organisations:
ANZUS (US suspended security obligations to NZ on 11 August 1986), APEC,
AsDB, Australia Group, C, CCC, CP, COCOM, (cooperating country), EBRD,
ESCAP, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS,
MTCR, OECD, PCA, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIIMOG, UNTSO, UPU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO
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