LAWS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: New Zealand Bill Of Rights Act 1990
Document Summary
17/04 legislation 11- an introduction to the new zealand bill of rights. Proposition: parliament can make or unmake any law it chooses, and it is the task of the judiciary to apply it. New zealand does not have a constitution, and cannot declare any legislation invalid in the event that it conflicts with the values set down there. New zealand bill of rights act 1990 is open to statutory invasion. Judges protect an individual s right, by presuming that parliament would not have intended to breach it unless it had specifically said so. Presumption that parliament would want to preserve certain values all the time, and these values are about how the system should work. E. g. the liberty of the subject: penal statutes should take the position that would favour the offence. This presumption that parliament would not want to invade personal rights is fairly artificial. Judges: apply the law, and to protect citizens against an imbalance of power.
