Your cart is currently empty!
Platinum Useful Case Law:
“Case Law” of “judgments of the court, works to compel the court to be consistent with its’ decisions.
When preparing your case you will follow a basic approach of: ILAC
Issue [what]
Legislation [the laws you rely on]
Action Required/ remedy you seek.
Case Law [supporting decisions/ “authorities” the court is bound by, or should consider as persuasive.]
Some decisions are “binding precedents” meaning the court MUST find the same way if the material / basis of the matter is the same.
Other decisions can be “persuasive precedents” meaning the court should consider the matter the same way [even if the decision comes from another country or a lower court.]
A decision issued by the supreme court is a binding precedent for every court below it- the Family Court decisions are not binding, when met with a higher courts ruling- which is why knowing how to appeal is a valuable skill- as most Family Court and civil matters are only corrected at the higher courts.
[For access to information and templates for the High Court and Court of Appeal- this is available at the “Platinum membership level”]
Useful case law listed at the high court level is here under: “Public interest” [these are usually taken down after 3 months, so it is good practice to routinely download and save what is useful to you.]
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/judgments/high-court/
General decisions for any search are here: https://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/decisions/jdo
A particularly Valuable decision as a binding precedent from High Court include:
Harder v Worksafe [2023] Justice Mallon NZHC620
W v W [2023] NZHC 3491 Justice Ellis regarding unfair hearings rendering judgement unable to stand: [para 114] “
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2023/2023-NZHC-3491.pdf
[114] As the earlier discussion of Serafin demonstrates, the effect of an unfair hearing is that any resulting judgment cannot stand, and I set it aside accordingly. The costs judgment must also fall, and I set that aside as well.”
https://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/decisions/jdo
*For exclusive case law please email us with the legal basis required for additional resources.
https://districtcourts.govt.nz/search/SearchForm?TermID=5&Year=&Month=&Day=&Search=+
If you have located a media story and are unable to find the decision: We encourage you to contact the Judicial Decisions Online department to see if they can locate of release the information: [email protected]
COURT OF APPEAL decisions of public importance are locate able here:
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/judgments/court-of-appeal/
General decisions for any search are here:
https://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/decisions/jdo
Of particular importance is this decision stating blanket dismissing applications as an abuse of process is unlawful:
Te Wakaminenga o Nga Hapu Ki Waitangi v Waitangi National Trust Board [2023] NZCA 63
An informative article summarizing the contradiction of judges breaching binding precedents can be found here- with more useful case law: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-judges-nz-unregulated-interests-justice-justices-chambers-y9drc/
and here:
As our site builds we will be compiling specific case law our members ask for, for easy resource folders for maximum convenience. Feel free to email us at [email protected] with case law on specific legal grounds [such as protection orders, reversal of custody, shared care, relocation etc] for us to begin prioritizing that case law compilation folder.