Littlewood on Nothing New Under the Sun: Tax Avoidance in Otago in 1856

Michael Littlewood, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, has published Nothing New under the Sun: Tax Avoidance in Otago in 1856. Here is the abstract.

This paper examines a rule against tax avoidance enacted by the legislature of the New Zealand province of Otago in 1856. The tax was a toll collectable by licensed operators of ferries over rivers; and the rule required persons crossing the river to pay the toll, even if they did not use the ferry.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

Littlewood on Public Nuisance in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1849

Michael Littlewood, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, has published Public Nuisance in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1849. Here is the abstract.

This paper examines the Constabulary Force Ordinance enacted by the legislature of the New Zealand Province of New Munster in 1849. This is worth doing because the Ordinance is revealing of life in colonial New Zealand at the time.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

Swain on Low-Value Civil Litigation in New Zealand 1841-1872

Warren Swain, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, has published Low-Value Civil Litigation in New Zealand 1841–1872. Here is the abstract.

The Court of Requests in New Zealand in the 1840s was described in one newspaper report as “the people’s court” which was “open to all”. The Court played an important role as a forum for low-level debt litigation. There were plenty of forerunners. A Court of Requests was well established for small claims litigation in England before it was replaced by the County Court in 1846. A version of the Court of Requests successfully operated in New South Wales. Official records of the Court have not survived in New Zealand, but it is nevertheless possible to trace its history in contemporary newspaper reports. In time, the Resident Magistrates’ Court and the District Court would take over as the main forums for small claims litigation. These courts were all vital on a practical level in the way that they contributed to the operation of the economy of the colony. They also illustrate the way that English legal institutions were both transplanted into colonies and modified to take account of colonial conditions and were part of a broader shift towards a more legalistic framework in place of a system of more informal justice.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

McLay on The Removal of Justice Edwards and the Struggle Between the "Legal" and the "Constitutional" in Late Nineteenth-Century New Zealand @GeoffMcLay1

Geoff McLay, Victoria University of Wellington, Te Herenga Waka, Faculty of Law, has published The Removal of Justice Edwards and the Struggle between the 'Legal' and the 'Constitutional' in Late Nineteenth-Century New Zealand at 53 VUWLR 379 (2022). Here is the abstract.

This article examines an extraordinary episode in New Zealand's constitutional history: the 1892 removal of Justice Worley Bassett Edwards as a Supreme Court judge after having been invalidly appointed by the previous government. Edwards' case is important as the only time a New Zealand government has formally sought to remove a sitting judge of the Supreme or (as it is now) High Court. But the article argues that the Edwards controversy is also an example of how New Zealand politicians and lawyers thought about judges within the developing New Zealand state, and even more profoundly about what was constitutional, as opposed to just legal, within that state.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Palmer on The Legal History and Framework of the New Zealand Constitution

Sir Geoffrey Palmer, QC, Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law, has published The Legal History and Framework of the New Zealand Constitution as Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper 30/2022. Here is the abstract.

A paper presented to the “Building the Constitution” conference, held on 7–8 April 2000. The paper provides an overview of New Zealand’s constitutional history and system. It notes that uncertainty surrounding New Zealand's constitution renders any assessment of its adequacy quite challenging. Nevertheless, it ends by posing a number of questions for reformers to consider.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

Dorsett on Metropolitan Theorizing: Legal Frameworks, Protectorates, and Models for Maori Governance, 1837-1838

Shaunnagh Dorsett, University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Law, has published Metropolitan Theorising: Legal Frameworks, Protectorates and Models for Maori Governance 1837-1838 at 3 Law & History 1 (2016). Here is the abstract.

This article considers the little-known 1838 proposal by Robert Torrens for the establishment of a native government in New Zealand. In so doing, it joins recent literature which seeks to move away from doctrinal or juridical legal history through an exploration of the ways in which legal concepts were used in the first part of the nineteenth century by colonial actors as tools, deployed for political advantage, rather than in strict reliance on them as a particular legal form. In so doing, however, this article also contends that although legal concepts were often malleable and could be, and were, deployed in this way, those who relied on them were also bound by Imperial constitutional principles which, while often broad and ambiguous, nevertheless acted as limits on the deployment of these concepts.

Download the article from SSRN at the link. 

Minnie Dean's Trial

Sophie Davis, Victoria University of Wellington, has published Hung Out to Dry? Questioning the Legality of Southland Baby-Farmer Minnie Dean’s 1895 Murder Trial and Execution as Victoria University of Wellington Legal Research Paper, Student/Alumni Paper No. 30. Here is the abstract.

In 1895 Minnie Dean became the only New Zealand woman to receive the death penalty. In the Invercargill Supreme Court she was found guilty of the murder of Dorothy Edith Carter, a child Minnie had recently adopted, who was found buried in her garden alongside two other infants. Branded a vindictive baby-farmer, Minnie Dean was widely condemned by the New Zealand press and public during the four months between her arrest and execution. This paper will assess whether, amongst the mania, Minnie was afforded a fair criminal trial and sentencing. It will be argued that while Minnie’s fate was largely predetermined from the moment of her arrest, against 1895 legal standards, correct criminal procedure was generally followed. Despite this, when comparing her trial and sentencing with contemporaneous murder trials, it is evident that Minnie Dean received no procedural clemency.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.