Abstract
New Zealand's legal system is largely the product of its colonial heritage. In 1840 Governor Hobson, on behalf of the queen of England, concluded the Treaty of Waitangi with the indigenous Maori peoples, who exchanged their sovereignty for the guarantees contained in the treaty. New Zealand subsequently developed a Westminister-style par liamentary system, and a legal system rooted firmly in the common law. Although New Zealand has no formal written constitution, several documents (e.g., the Treaty of Waitangi, the Constitution Act 1986, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990) syner gistically create an unwritten constitution, which respects the notion of Parliamentary sovereignty. Governance of the courts system is the responsibility of the Department for Courts, which was established as a distinct entity in 1995 when it was separated form the former Ministry of Justice. The Department, part of the executive branch of government, con sults regularly with the judiciary on matters central to effective administration of the courts. This close relationship between purportedly diverse governmental bodies raises obvious questions about the separation of powers. It has recently been suggested that judicial independence could be better served by control of case processing in the hands of the Judiciary served by an administrative Department, with a budget provided by the state but managed by the Judiciary with appropriate accountability for its disbursement.1 New Zealand has four courts of general jurisdiction, arranged in simple vertical hierarchy. They are (in ascending order):
Published Version
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