Supreme Court of New Zealand
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The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the highest court in the land and the court of last resort in New Zealand, having formally come into existence at the beginning of 2004, and sitting for the first time on July 1, 2004. It controversially replaced the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, based in London. It was created with the passing of the Supreme Court Act 2003, on October 15, 2003.
It is no relation to the "old" Supreme Court, which was renamed in 1980 (as the result of a Royal Commission recommendation) as the High Court in anticipation of the creation of a court like the one that now bears its former name.
The Supreme Court sits in Wellington. The Court is to get a $67 million home to be built beside, and to expand into the historic High Court building, located near Parliament, although the court is being housed in temporary facilities while the new building is built and the High Court building refurbished.
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[edit] Composition
The inaugural bench (with the exception of the Chief Justice, who had automatic appointment) were the most senior judges of the Court of Appeal at the time. Their appointment to the new Court was said to have been based on seniority and merit.
Several acting Judges have also been appointed to sit whenever a permanent judge was unable to do so due to illness or a conflict of interest. These judges were appointed from the retired judges of the Court of Appeal and including Justices John Henry, Ted Thomas, former President of the Court of Appeal Sir Ivor Richardson and former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum. Acting judges only sit on substantive appeals, and not applications for leave, due to the requirement for appeals to be heard en banc by five judges.
On May 4, 2005, Attorney General Michael Cullen announced the appointment of Justice John McGrath of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court bench as its sixth permanent judge. On February 21, 2006, the Honourable Noel Crossley Anderson (at the time President of the Court of Appeal) was appointed to the Supreme Court. Thus the promotion of the most senior Court of Appeal member has continued. This practice was broken with the appointment of Justice Bill Wilson in December 2007 after having served less than a year as a judge of the Court of Appeal.
[edit] Table of Judges of the Supreme Court
| Judge | Took office | Left office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Right Honourable Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias GNZM QC | 1 July 2004 | |
| 2 | The Right Honourable Justice Peter Blanchard DCNZM QC | 1 July 2004 | |
| 3 | The Right Honourable Justice Andrew Tipping DCNZM | 1 July 2004 | |
| 4 | The Right Honourable Justice Thomas Gault DCNZM QC | 1 July 2004 | |
| 5 | The Right Honourable Justice Sir Kenneth Keith ONZ KBE QC | 1 July 2004 | 21 December 2007 |
| 6 | The Honourable Justice John McGrath DCNZM | 4 May 2005 | |
| 7 | The Honourable Justice Noel Anderson DCNZM | 21 February 2006 | |
| 8 | The Honourable Justice Bill Wilson | 21 December 2007 |
[edit] Controversy
Although proposals for an indigenous final appellate court can be traced back to 1985, the creation of the Supreme Court was controversial. In 1996, the Bolger government proposed to end the status of the Privy Council as the country's highest court of appeal. This policy was the same as that of the previous Labour government. Upon the re-election of the current Labour government in 2002, as part of that party's election manifesto, the government introduced legislation to abolish appeals to the Privy Council.
The Supreme Court Act 2003 was passed by a relatively small margin - the governing Labour and Progressive parties, supported by the Greens, voted in favour, while the National, New Zealand First, ACT, and United Future parties voted against.
[edit] Referendum
After the Opposition parties unsuccessfully called for a national referendum on the matter, they launched a petition for a non-binding referendum of their own. However, the petition failed to gain the 310,000 signatures needed. The legal profession in general were opposed to the creation of the new court, and members were generally concerned that such an important legal change was forced through in the face of heated opposition.
[edit] Appointments
One issue that was particularly contentious as the Bill was being debated in Parliament was the appointment of judges to the Court, with opposition parties claiming that the Attorney-General, Labour's Margaret Wilson, would make partisan choices. These concerns were because the entire bench was to be appointed simultaneously, and no clear statement had been made about how they would be selected. However, the level of concern was considerably lessened when Wilson announced that the appointments would be based on merit and seniority. Appointments to the Court were expected and unsurprising. The most senior Justices on the Court of Appeal were appointed to the new Court.
[edit] Cases
One of the grounds advanced for the creation of the Court was that it would allow more people to have access to the country's highest appellate court. The Supreme Court is likely to hear many more cases than were heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council due to its jurisdiction being considerably broader. For example, cases in the areas of employment, criminal and family law can be heard by the Supreme Court, whereas previously cases in both areas of law could normally progress no further than the Court of Appeal. The proximity of the Court is another factor that is likely to contribute to it hearing an increased number of appeals and also allows appeals to be heard and determined considerable faster than under the former system.
The Court heard many applications to leave. It has also heard many substantive appeals. Notable substantive cases include:
- Taunoa v Attorney-General [2008] 1 NZLR 429 (remedies for Bill of Rights breach).
- R v Hansen [2007] 3 NZLR 1 (burden of proof and evidential burden under Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 in relation to Bill of Rights).
- Lai v Chamberlains [2007] 2 NZLR 7 (immunity of barristers from suit).
- R v L [2006] 3 NZLR 291 (mens rea of attempted sexual violation).
- Zaoui v Attorney-General [2006] 1 NZLR 289 (human rights in relation to national security).
- Morgan v Superintendent of Rimutaka Prison [2005] 3 NZLR 1 (retrospective penalties).
[edit] Leave
Unlike some other final appellate courts internationally, there is no automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court of New Zealand. All appeals are first required to apply to the Court for leave to appeal. This is granted or declined based on a number of factors listed in the Supreme Court Act, with the overarching principle being that it must be necessary in the interests of justice for the Court to hear the appeal. Leave applications are normally determined by any two judges of the court based on the written submission of the parties without an oral hearing; however, the judges hearing the application can decide to hold an oral hearing if they wish.
This system is also in place in the United Kingdom where the House of Lords Appellate Committee, the highest court of appeal in the United Kingdom, also must grant leave for appeal for cases to be heard before it. Similarly, most litigants seeking to appeal to the United States Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Canada or High Court of Australia require leave before their case can be heard - although there are some exceptions to this the latter two courts.
[edit] See also
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