The Compensation Scheme No One Asked For: The Origins of ACC in New Zealand

Trends in Common Law Remedies for Work Injuries in Australia: An Examination of the Process and Principles

The Woodhouse Report and the subsequent 1972 Accident Compensation Act was revolutionary. The right to sue to recover compensatory damages arising directly or indirectly out of personal injury was abolished, although there was still the provision to take an action for damages in a court outside of New Zealand. Since then, workers’ compensation in New Zealand has evolved and metamorphosed into our current scheme. However, the effectiveness of workers' compensation schemes in terms providing protecting injured workers and their dependents has been eroded over the years. This paper not only provides a brief background to the current system but also explores the notion that if the current workers’ compensation scheme is failing New Zealand workers, perhaps it is time to look at other alternatives. In particular, the tort system of law may afford workers fairer compensation and may spur employers to provide healthy and safe working environments.

Ecological is by adjusting the interest of the parties to achieve the sustainable use of ecosystem services as a means or institutional arrangements. Based on the microscopic dimension, the thesis carried on researches on ecological compensation, established the asymmetric evolution game model through dividing interest groups of ecological into the implementation group and the benefit group, and made the analysis of the replicator dynamics and evolutionary stable strategy of the relationship between interest groups and the stability of the evolutionary game system. The results showed that as the “report-punishment” system existed, there is the only stable equilibrium strategy (protection, compensation) between groups of evolutionary game, namely the implement group chose protection strategy, and benefit group chose compensation strategy. The implementation of group decision-making dominated system stability. The proportion of interest groups' decision choices decided whether the stable equilibrium strategy can be formed. Implementation group and benefit from the proportion of the group select the protection and compensation strategy; accelerate the formation of stable equilibrium strategy effectively.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the success and the gains, if any, of the current employment compensation scheme in Nigeria after over a decade of its existence against the previous regime, which was changed by the repeal of the Workmen’s Compensation Act (WCA) and the enactment of the Employee’s Compensation Act (ECA) in 2010. Design/methodology/approach The researcher applies the doctrinal research method that involves a review of primary sources like the WCA, the ECA, case laws and secondary sources like researched articles, dictionaries and opinions of learned authors and experts. In appropriate situation, the research compares the current position of the employee’s compensation scheme in Nigeria with that of the United Kingdom (UK) by examining some of UK industrial injury laws as a way of identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the Nigerian employee compensation scheme. Findings This paper finds that several researches have been carried out on the review of the WCA and ECA with a number of them commending the ECA regime for introducing certain innovations, particularly as regards the nature of benefits, procedure for claims and institutional arrangement as well as its attempt to conform with international labour standards on workmen’s compensation. However, this article finds that, though the ECA came with some commendable innovations and improvements, its provisions are still not commensurate with the aspirations of workers as employees still find solace in resorting to the common law of negligence for damages in spite of the high standard of proof required. Research limitations/implications An effective employee’s compensation scheme is imperative for a harmonious industrial relation at all times. The research is expected to drive policy reforms by challenging administrators of the scheme and policymakers into a more efficient employee’s compensation scheme in Nigeria. Though the study makes ample references to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Act, the research is limited to contributions relating to compensation and does not focus on other employee's welfare such as pension and retirement benefits. Practical implications The study will instigate initiatives towards a better awareness of the existence and activities of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Management Board and effective prosecution of defaulting employers which will in turn enhance registration of employers and their employees into the Scheme. Originality/value This study demonstrates that the migration from WCA to ECA has not successfully brought respite to injured employees and dependants of deceased workmen. It suggests a more technically free and reliable framework for employee’s compensation in Nigeria. The research further suggests the introduction of certain industrial obligations like mandatory risk assessment by employers to help in determining when an injury may be said to have arisen out of and in the course of employment. It also finds that there is need for the courts in Nigeria to give preferential treatment to work injury claims and an amendment of the ECA by removing the ban, which prohibits applicants who have approached the Board from resorting to the courts for remedy.

This article explores the enactment of the Civil Wrongs Ordinance in Mandate Palestine in order to question the utility of “Anglicization” as a historical lens, and to suggest that it tends to crowd out more helpful framings, in particular those involving distributive or class motivations and effects. The Ordinance has been portrayed primarily as an instance of the codification of the common law of torts and its import to Palestine. Without denying the Englishness of the Ordinance, this article demonstrates that it did not codify the common law of tort but went considerably beyond it in reforming Palestine’s liability regime. It further argues that the “Anglicization” framing obscures more than it illuminates, missing the massive redistribution of risk, costs, liability, and welfare that resulted from the change in Palestine’s tort law. The study also complicates the commonly accepted chronology of the development of compensation for injuries in the common law world. In Palestine, English-style tort law was the product of progressive reform, designed to overcome the shortcomings of the preceding regime of workers’ compensation schemes. The significance of Anglicized tort law in this jurisdiction was thus very different, in some ways the polar opposite, of that in other, better-known contexts.

The Regulation Charade

Liability: Legal

Interest Groups in the Canadian Federal SystemHugh G. Thorburn Volume 69, Research Report, Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada Toronto: University of Toronto Press for Supply and Services Canada, 1985, pp. xviii, 146. - Volume 20 Issue 1

A Comparative Study on the New Zealand No-Fault Automobile Insurance

A View from Abroad

This case note examines the recent Court of Appeal decision in Palmer v Danes Shotover Rafts dealing with the relationship between the common law and the Accident Compensation regime. The author acknowledges the practical importance of the Court's holding in Danes Shotover Rafts that plaintiffs who have not suffered physical injury can sue for nervous shock. The author contends that the case is, like the exemplary damages cases, yet another example of the complex interaction between common law and statutory compensation regimes. The author argues that the case may signal a judicial switch from a welfare or communitarian approach to the interpretation of the Accident Compensation scheme to a rights based approach and that gives primacy to common law rights rather than to the integrity of the Accident Compensation scheme. A wider view not based solely on the statutory provisions, or on the assumption that the common law or statutory compensation regimes "trump" one another, but one which views the interaction between the common law and statutory compensation schemes as dynamic, may lead to a greater understanding of the relationship between statutory tort reform and the common law.

<p>The thesis consists of four chapters concerning different topics of Law and Economics. The first chapter deals with economic issues in competition law. In order to distinguish predatory pricing from competition on the merits, the courts in the United States and in the European Union have established cost-based tests that also include an assessment of the market structure. The tests miss a causal connection between conduct and foreclosure. In contrast, Australia and New Zealand make use of a counterfactual analysis that establishes causality. However, the causal connection there relates to the market power and the conduct, and does not answer whether the conduct has only been done because of the foreclosure effects. A counterfactual test could be useful in predation cases if it establishes a causal link between the profitability of the conduct and the foreclosure effect. The second chapter explores the effect of excluding tort law for workplace accidents. In countries with workers’ compensation schemes, employees receive compensation for injuries at work regardless of fault, while private law liability of employers is either limited or fully excluded. The degree of liability matters for workplace safety, and different legal arrangements influence incentives of employers and employees to take care. An empirical analysis of several jurisdictions reveals a consistent pattern. The combination of arrangements that increase private law liability and mitigate moral hazard seems to be important for safety at work. No-fault workers’ compensation with the benefit of effective compensation comes with a cost: more injuries of those, which it seeks to protect. The third chapter assesses the effect of no-fault automobile insurances on safety incentives. In order to examine how no-fault motor vehicle insurance affects accident rates, insurance regimes in various countries are compared. A random effects model on fatality data of 29 countries reveals that some motor vehicle insurance systems increase moral hazard. The incentive to take care seems not to be negatively affected by no-fault rules, but by moral hazard due to limited experience rating. Restrictions on experience rating lower the level of care taken by motorists. A combination of no-fault insurance and flat-rate premiums, as found in New Zealand or the Northern Territory in Australia, has a detrimental effect on the safety of roads. The fourth chapter primarily builds on the finding of the second chapter that the exclusion of tort law for workplace injuries results in higher accident rates. In this respect, the question arises whether health and safety regulation can counteract the detrimental effect by providing deterrence from criminal sanctions. This is particularly relevant for New Zealand where a tendency of the law towards a reliance on regulation and criminal law can be observed. In practice, however, criminal law cannot fully replace common law in establishing incentives to take care, and is not as effective as private law actions.</p>

This chapter examines the state of law and regulation concerning medical malpractice in the UK in the context of alternative compensation or redress schemes available for patients who find themselves injured in the course of a healthcare interaction. A reader will find that the overwhelming majority of such injuries are left to be dealt with by more or less unaltered private law rules. It is characteristic of the English common law that there is little by way of a lex specialis that deals with such injuries. Indeed, suggestions of generally implementing anything akin to many continental-style no-fault compensation or redress schemes have been rejected on grounds of the likely cost of doing so. Nevertheless, there are a number of small scale, specific schemes, along with a redress scheme for relatively low-level injuries now in operation in Wales, and a number of specific procedural requirements in the context of malpractice litigation generally that are worth considering as relevant in this space.

<p>The thesis consists of four chapters concerning different topics of Law and Economics. The first chapter deals with economic issues in competition law. In order to distinguish predatory pricing from competition on the merits, the courts in the United States and in the European Union have established cost-based tests that also include an assessment of the market structure. The tests miss a causal connection between conduct and foreclosure. In contrast, Australia and New Zealand make use of a counterfactual analysis that establishes causality. However, the causal connection there relates to the market power and the conduct, and does not answer whether the conduct has only been done because of the foreclosure effects. A counterfactual test could be useful in predation cases if it establishes a causal link between the profitability of the conduct and the foreclosure effect. The second chapter explores the effect of excluding tort law for workplace accidents. In countries with workers’ compensation schemes, employees receive compensation for injuries at work regardless of fault, while private law liability of employers is either limited or fully excluded. The degree of liability matters for workplace safety, and different legal arrangements influence incentives of employers and employees to take care. An empirical analysis of several jurisdictions reveals a consistent pattern. The combination of arrangements that increase private law liability and mitigate moral hazard seems to be important for safety at work. No-fault workers’ compensation with the benefit of effective compensation comes with a cost: more injuries of those, which it seeks to protect. The third chapter assesses the effect of no-fault automobile insurances on safety incentives. In order to examine how no-fault motor vehicle insurance affects accident rates, insurance regimes in various countries are compared. A random effects model on fatality data of 29 countries reveals that some motor vehicle insurance systems increase moral hazard. The incentive to take care seems not to be negatively affected by no-fault rules, but by moral hazard due to limited experience rating. Restrictions on experience rating lower the level of care taken by motorists. A combination of no-fault insurance and flat-rate premiums, as found in New Zealand or the Northern Territory in Australia, has a detrimental effect on the safety of roads. The fourth chapter primarily builds on the finding of the second chapter that the exclusion of tort law for workplace injuries results in higher accident rates. In this respect, the question arises whether health and safety regulation can counteract the detrimental effect by providing deterrence from criminal sanctions. This is particularly relevant for New Zealand where a tendency of the law towards a reliance on regulation and criminal law can be observed. In practice, however, criminal law cannot fully replace common law in establishing incentives to take care, and is not as effective as private law actions.</p>

Environmental protection and natural resources management is today dominated by legislative measures and administrative procedures. Enforcement and penalty regimes for environmental damage and the management of natural resources are all highly regulated. Nevertheless, there remains the oft-neglected realm of common law rules and procedures available to individuals and public interest groups, and indeed government, as alternate or supplementary mechanisms to enforce rights and obligations, to guide the implementation and interpretation of environmental regulation, and to provide new avenues for addressing environmental challenges. The common law, particularly in the areas of tort and property, has demonstrated remarkable adaptability in addressing novel environmental threats and in innovating to protect environmental values and incentivize ecologically-sustainable development of natural resources. This article is intended to provide a review of the historical and current contribution of the common law, focusing particularly on property law concepts and property-related torts, and to explore the future potential of those mechanisms in contributing to environmental protection and environmentally-sustainable development. The article draws on cases and developments in a number of similar common law jurisdictions, including Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.