#17006 - Classification Of Law Lecture 4 Law 101 26 Feb - Legal System

Lecture 4

26^th February 2018

Laws 101

• Tutorial group- next week

• Sometimes have written work

• 5% for tutorial attendance

• Tutorial book/Lab manual- 1^st topic on learn (bring a copy of first one you attend)

• Laptops are not permitted in tutorials- bring a pen and paper
  Written assignments returned on Tue 5pm

Classification of law by source of law

Law (2 categories)

• Municipal (Domestic) Law the law within a political state, e.g. NZ’s domestic law/legal system,

• Formal sources

• Informal sources

• International Law the relationship between nation states, like North Korea and U.S. A component deals with the relationship split between parties in states.

When focus on source it is focused on person or party

The personal party to which the law is directed or intended to apply

International Law

Private international law (Conflict of laws)

e.g in different countries there are different adoption laws, which parent gets the child e.g Saudi Arabi and NZ (involving individuals)

• Marriage

• Divorce

• Custody

• Contracts

Public international law

The law between countries

• Antarctica- Antarctic Treaty 1959

• Law of the sea- United Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982

• Law of outer space- Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies 1967

• Human Rights law- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948. International Criminal Court- US is not in it, only operates between countries that have signed up to it, the genocide, operates at the national level with sovereign states

The New Zealand Legal System

Treaty of Waitangi 1840

English Laws Act 1858

• The Laws of England as existing on 14 January 1840, so far as applicable to the circumstances of New Zealand, be deemed and taken to have been in force therein on and after that day, and shall continue to be therein applied in the administration of justice accordingly

• Case Law: Derives from court decisions (analyse cases that judges have decided)

• Other countries have Civil Law, a code, whereas NZ has more flexibility. NZ has England’s common law system

• Doctrine of Binding Precedent

• State Decisis

• Statuary Law: Passed by Parliament

• This overrides case law because democracy judges are not elected, MPs are

• Statutory Interpretation

• Judges have a role when it comes to Statues. They need to interpret the statue. The courts/judges are asked to interpret. What did Parliament mean when it used these words? Judges can decide

Interlude: Common Law legal family

Common law- judge made law

British origins

• New Zealand legal system in the common law family

Traditionally

• Adversarial (the process of which court cases argue, every problem is converted to a binary one, with the judge and there are two lawyers, judges set a principle for what legal system should apply)

• Unwritten constitution (not in one single place, read old cases, constitutional textbooks, only UK and NZ have classic unwritten constitutions)

• Case-based system

• Source of law= case law

• Law develops through cases

• Judges apply and interpret the law

• Emphasis on adjudication

New Zealand legal system: Case Law

English law always existed, just needed a judge

Sir William Blackstone= ‘the ancient unwritten law of the kingdom.’

Black Law Dictionary= ‘the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statues or constitutions.’

The judges need parties to bring the case to court, then the judge makes the difference, they can only decide the cases that are brought by parties…

Contrasts with statuary law which can decide on changing the law they as a body change the law whereas the judges need a case

Parliament can pass a law if they want to change the direction of the judge

Statute Law

A statue is written law passed by a legislative body

120 MPS, parliament, Wellington, pass bills by voting

Only Parliament can pass law in New Zealand

• Parliament= House of Representatives + The Sovereign (HMQ who is...