Category: New Zealand
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Jeremy Ogilvie-Harris: A Comparative Perspective on the Constitutionality of Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill
Introduction The Nationality and Borders Bill (NABB) proposes controversial amendments to the UK’s citizenship deprivation power under s. 40 British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA). The Home Secretary seeks a power to dispense with the requirement to give notice of deprivation decisions to those affected, in an act of “striking back” (Harlow and Rawlings at Chamberlain J’s…
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Andrew Geddis and Sarah Jocelyn: Is the NZ Supreme Court Aligning the NZBORA with the HRA?
The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA) and the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) share common constitutional DNA. Both are “parliamentary bills of rights” that eschew a judicial power to invalidate rights-infringing legislation. However, the two rights instruments historically have diverged in a couple of important ways regarding the form of…
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Guy Baldwin: Banning Public Worship during the Pandemic?
As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into its second year, the tension between freedom of religion and public health measures has become increasingly acute. In Scotland, the issue has come to the fore with the decision of the Outer House of the Court of Session in Philip. In that case, Lord Braid found that Scottish regulations…
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Hanna Wilberg: Lockdowns, the principle of legality, and reasonable limits on liberty.
In responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have imposed unprecedented “lockdowns”. They decided, on the advice of public health officials and experts, that this was necessary in order to at least “flatten the curve” of escalating numbers of infections and thus prevent health systems being overwhelmed. This has left many governments scrambling…
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Dean R Knight and Geoff McLay: Is New Zealand’s Covid-19 lockdown lawful? – an alternative view
The legality of the Covid-19 lockdown in New Zealand has been thrust into the spotlight, with valuable analysis from colleagues Profs Geddis and Geiringer on this blog, subsequent public airing of that legal debate, and issue of judicial review proceedings to test the regime on the back of that analysis. Questions about the validity of…
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Jelena Gligorijević: Government Accountability for the Lawfulness of Lockdown: New Zealand Parliamentary Scrutiny and Privileged Legal Advice
The New Zealand Government recently lifted its “Level 4” COVID-19 restrictions. Significant restrictions, including coercive powers restricting basic liberties, remain active. Parliament’s Epidemic Response Committee is now planning to issue summonses for the production of legal advice given to the Government for these extraordinary measures. This advice is covered by legal professional privilege, which can…
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Andrew Geddis and Claudia Geiringer: Is New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown lawful?
The New Zealand Government’s “go hard, go early” response to the COVID-19 pandemic has garnered widespread praise – both in New Zealand and internationally. On March 25, less than four weeks after New Zealand’s first COVID case was diagnosed, the country was put into a state of “Level 4 Lockdown”, reducing social and economic life…
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Andrew Geddis: Restoring the Voting Rights of (Some) New Zealand Prisoners
The issue of whether prisoners should have the right to vote (and, if so, which prisoners) has long troubled a number of democracies. The current position in the United Kingdom is that no prisoner serving a custodial sentence after conviction can vote, albeit that the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies currently are taking steps to allow…
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Andrew Geddis: New Zealand’s Supreme Court Considers Prisoner Voting – Twice
New Zealand’s Supreme Court has twice in the past two months turned its attention to the vexed issue of prisoner voting. Its first decision, Attorney-General v Taylor, upheld by a 3-2 majority a declaration that the legislative ban on all sentenced prisoners voting is inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA).…
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Lorne Neudorf: Scrutinising Legislative Reform Orders: The Case of the Horserace Betting Levy
On Wednesday, 21 November, the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee (the ‘Lords Committee’) held a unique concurrent meeting with the House of Commons Regulatory Reform Committee (the ‘Commons Committee’) to take evidence as part of its scrutiny of a draft Legislative Reform Order (‘LRO’) entitled the Legislative Reform (Horserace Betting Levy)…