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NZJPIL: new issue 6(1), June 2008
A new issue of the New Zealand Journal of Puclic and International Law is now available, containing the following articles:
- Claudia Geiringer and Dean R Knight,"Foreword"
- David Feldman, "The Role of Constitutional Principles in Protecting International Peace and Security Through International, Supranational and National Legal Institutions"
- Janet McLean, "Crown Him with Many Crowns": The Crown and the Treaty of Waitangi
- Claudia Geiringer, "The Principle of Legality and the Bill of Rights Act: A Critical Examination of R v Hansen"
- Ben Keith, "Seeing the World Whole: Understanding the Citation of External Sources in Judicial Reasoning"
- Dean R Knight, "A Murky Methodology: Standards of Review in Administrative Law"
- Gary Hawke, "Lawyers in the Policy Process"
- Rt Hon Peter Blanchard, "The Early Experience of the New Zealand Supreme Court"
A Life in Law: The Sir Kenneth Keith Conference – From Professing to Advising to Judging
A distinguished gathering of national and international legal luminaries recently gathered to honour Sir Kenneth Keith at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Law in the Old Government Buildings.
The conference was opened with a mihi from Paul Meredith from the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Maori) and a welcome from the Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Tim Beaglehole. The Chief Justice of New Zealand, Dame Sian Elias, then gave the opening address in which she outlined Sir Kenneth’s key contributions to the law and the legal community.
Substantive sessions were then held on areas of law and legal practice of particular interest to Sir Kenneth. On the first day, sessions were held on the international, constitutional and methodological foundations of the law. On the second day, reflecting the title of the conference, sessions were held on areas of legal practice to which Sir Kenneth has made a particular contribution: teaching, advising and judging.
In keeping with Sir Kenneth’s own jurisprudence and perspectives on the law, there was considerable overlap between the sessions. Indeed, it could perhaps be said that a general theme underpinning the conference as a whole was the increasingly permeable boundaries that exist between national and international law and between law and other disciplines. Thus for example, all three of the papers at the session on “constitutional foundations” had an international law dimension; and conversely both the papers at the session on international law reflected the impact of international law on New Zealand’s constitution and legal system. At the session on methodological foundations, Sir Kenneth’s son, Ben Keith, a Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office, spoke about the use by judges of extrinsic sources of principles and values including, again, international and comparative law, as well as general economic, social and factual information and literary references.
It was appropriate, given Sir Kenneth’s own career and the location of the conference, that another theme of the conference was the importance of the law teacher. That theme was signalled in the final session on the first day by a fascinating paper by Law Commissioner and Emeritus Professor John Burrows on the need to improve the way in which legislation is taught about in New Zealand law schools. The theme was developed further through a panel discussion on the second day, chaired by the Dean of the Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law and Director of the NZ Centre for Public Law, and comprising academics from universities around New Zealand as well as Professor Peter Hogg from Canada. Topics for discussion by the panel included the potential impact of the government’s funding model, Performance Based Research Funding, on law schools, the role of international law in the law school curriculum (reflecting again Sir Kenneth’s own interests) and the challenge of better integrating Maori students into New Zealand law schools.
Prior to that session, first thing in the morning on the Friday, there was a special session open to the public at which UK Court of Appeal Justice Sir Stephen Sedley gave a paper on the role of an early protest group, the Levellers, during the English Civil War. What made this paper unusual was that Sir Stephen gave it from 10,000 miles away. He appeared on video link from the United Kingdom to introduce the paper and take questions at the end, and the paper itself, including interspersed pictures of the English countryside, was delivered by him via DVD.
At the session on “advising”, the audience heard three perspectives on the role of lawyers in the policy making process, including two from non-lawyers Privacy Commissioner (and former Secretary to Cabinet) Marie Shroff and VUW’s School of Government head, Professor Gary Hawke).
The Judging session was also notable for the robust appraisal of the early years of the Supreme Court (and those appearing before it) by Justice Peter Blanchard, along with a discussion of “dialogue” theory – or interaction between the courts and Parliament – by Professor Peter Hogg.
Copies of the conference papers are available on the Centre's website:
Star line up to honour top judge
On 23 and 24 August, an impressive array of legal academics, judges and practitioners from New Zealand and overseas will converge on Wellington to honour one of New Zealand’s most eminent jurists, the Rt Hon Sir Kenneth Keith.
Sir Kenneth is a sitting judge of the International Court of Justice – the only New Zealander ever to be so appointed. He was recently awarded New Zealand’s highest honour, the Order of New Zealand.
The conference, “From Professing to Advising to Judging”, marks Sir Kenneth’s retirement from the Supreme Court and honours his distinguished career as academic, law reformer, legal advisor, international advocate and judge.
“The conference is an opportunity to reflect on Sir Kenneth’s contribution to the law but it is much more than that” says organiser Claudia Geiringer. “It is a chance to hear from leading judges, academics and practitioners who are doing cutting edge work in areas of concern to Sir Kenneth. We honour Sir Kenneth by advancing a dialogue on matters of interest to him.”
The conference should therefore be of interest to all academics, government advisors and practitioners with a particular emphasis on public and international law. The first day of the conference will have sessions on constitutional law, international law and legal method. The second day will have sessions on the three areas of legal practice that give the conference its title: professing, advising and judging.
The conference will be opened by the Chief Justice of New Zealand, the Rt Hon Dame Sian Elias.
Highlights amongst the list of eminent speakers include New Zealand-born and educated Professor Peter Hogg QC of York University in Canada, who is the author of Canada’s leading textbook on constitutional law. He will talk about his theory of the constitutional dialogue between legislatures and courts that is promoted by a bill of rights. Other highlights include Professor David Feldman, who is the Chairman of the Faculty Board of Law at the University of Cambridge, the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the United Kingdom’s pre-eminent commentators on constitutional law and human rights. Sir Stephen Sedley, Lord Justice of Appeal, will present a paper by video link. Professors Benedict Kingsbury (NYU) and Janet McLean ( University of Dundee) complete the international line up.
Speakers from New Zealand include law commissioners Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Professor John Burrows; privacy commissioner and former Secretary of Cabinet Marie Shroff; Supreme Court justices the Rt Hon Justice Blanchard and Hon Justice John McGrath; New Zealand academics Professor Michael Taggart, Professor Gary Hawke, Treasa Dunworth, Claudia Geiringer and Dean Knight; practitioner Jack Hodder; and MFAT senior official, Gerard van Bohemen. A panel discussion on current issues in legal education, comprising legal academics from around the common law world, will be chaired by the Victoria University of Wellington’s new Dean of law, Professor Tony Smith.
The conference is co-hosted by the New Zealand Centre for Public Law in association with the Victoria University of Wellington School of Law. It has been made possible by a generous grant from the New Zealand Law Foundation.
Centre Update (August 2007)
Staff at the Centre
We are delighted to report that the Faculty recently resolved to appoint the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Law, Professor ATH Smith, as Director of the Centre. As many of you will be aware, Tony is a renowned scholar of constitutional law, particularly in the interface between public and criminal law. He also provides a wealth of experience in administration and will be well-placed to advance the interests of the Centre from his position as Dean. We wish Tony all the best in his new role.
This brings to an end our tenure as joint Acting Directors of the Centre, although we will remain on for present as Associate Directors. In addition, Dr Petra Butler has joined us as an Associate Director for the Centre.
Upcoming events
You will already know that our major event for the year, "From Professing to Advising to Judging: a conference in honour of Sir Kenneth Keith", is fast approaching. The two day conference takes place at the Government Buildings on Thursday and Friday next week. The conference is nearly full so if you are intending to attend, register now to avoid disappointment.
More information at:
The NZ Centre for Public Law is also hosting – together with the Australia and New Zealand Society for International Law – a symposium on International Humanitarian Law. The symposium will be held on Saturday 1 September 2007.
The programme and registration form can be downloaded at:
New and updated Publications
The Centre is pleased to announce details of new and updated publications:
- Occasional Paper No 18: Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer, "Law Reform & the Law Commission in New Zealand after 20 years – We Need to Try a Little Harder";
- Regulations Review Committee Digest (updated).
Also, the New Zealand Journal for Public and International Law has recently published a new volume. The volume is a special conference issue, comprising articles from the 14th Annual ANZSIL conference, "Pacific Perspectives on International Law".
Mailing List
The primary means to receive details about the activities of the Centre is our email mailing list. If you know anyone who you think may be interested in the Centre's activities, please feel free to forward this email onto them. If you are not presently receiving our updates and wish to join our mailing list, you can do so on our website:
Finally, we would like to thank you for your support of the Centre over the past year during our interim stewardship. We look forward to your involvement continuing in the future.
Centre Update (February 2007)
This email is a short update on the Centre and its upcoming events.
Last year was a busy year for the NZ Centre of Public Law. In addition to an extensive schedule of public lectures, the Centre hosted or co-hosted a number of special events:
- the 14th Annual Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law (June/July);
- the Salmond Symposium (August);
- a workshop on economic, social and cultural rights led by former Chief Justice of South Africa, Arthur Chaskalson (November);
- a workshop on the accident compensation system (December).
This year also plans to be eventful. Our usual programme of public lectures and seminars will continue. In addition, we are pleased to announce that our major event for the year will be a conference in honour of Sir Kenneth Keith, to be held on 23 and 24 August 2007. This conference is co-hosted by the NZ Centre for Public Law and the Faculty of Law.More information about the conference is attached. For more information or to register your interest, please contact the Events Coordinator, New Zealand Centre for Public Law, +64 (4) 463 6327, law-centres@vuw.ac.nz.
The latest issue of the New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law will be launched this week.
As many of you will know, there have been a number a changes to the personnel at the Centre.
The Centre is currently between directors, with last year's departure of Professor Matthew Palmer as Dean of the Faculty and Director of the Centre. Matthew is completing a major research project on the Treaty of Waitangi and is presently overseas as a visiting fellow at Osgoode Hall, Cambridge University and Yale Law School. We continue to lead the Centre, as Acting Co-Directors, until a permanent appointment is made.
In June 2006 Benjamin Paradza, a former Zimbabwean judge who fled his homeland after being persecuted by the Mugabe government, arrived at Victoria University of Wellington to take up the Sigrid Rausing Visiting Fellow, a fellowship that is co-hosted by the NZ Centre for Public Law and the Institute of Policy Studies. The fellowship has been made possible by a generous donation from Ms Sigrid Rausing in the United Kingdom.
In November last year, we also lost our able Events Coordinator, Anna Hamilton, who was headhunted for an exciting position at Massey University. However, we are pleased to introduce Ellie Garrett, our new Events Coordinator, who will take up her position with the Centre from next week.
Finally, the Centre is delighted to welcome the new Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Tony Smith. Professor Smith is an internationally renown scholar of Criminal and Public Law, formerly of Cambridge University.
We look forward to your attendance at the Centre's activities over the course of the year.
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Updated: 20 February, 2009 © 2006 Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand