Judiciary Functions, Jurisdiction, and Tribunals

Wellington Law Review

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Judicial Functions (Continued from Previous Lecture)

• Finish the judicial functions from yesterday's class.

• Discuss key features of the judiciary and their relationship to separation of powers.

• Discuss jurisdiction and its role in creating judicial independence.

• Discuss tribunals and their role within the governmental structure.

Final Three Functions of the Courts

• Helping people settle disputes outside of the courts.

• Determining remedies at the conclusion of a case.

• Serving as advocates of the legal system.

Helping People Settle Disputes

• Most legal disputes are resolved without a hearing, outside of court.

• Alternative means:

  • Arbitration.

  • Mediation: External third party helps resolve the legal problem and negotiate a conclusion.

• Judge-overseen negotiation:

  • Judge calls for claimants to meet outside of court to negotiate a settlement.

  • Common at lower levels of the court structure.

  • Example: Maori Land Court judges meet with parties to resolve solutions without the costs and delays of a courtroom.

• Limits:

  • Not used if the situation is distressing, dangerous, or unhelpful for claimants and respondents to meet.

• Purpose:

  • Addresses disadvantages in court hierarchy like cost and delays.

Determining Remedies

• Remedy: An order made by the court to settle the dispute financially or through action.

• Wide remit for remedies:

  • Not limited to sentencing or financial repayment.

  • Specific performance: Judge orders claimant to fulfill a promise or take action to correct the situation.

  • Injunction: Court orders someone to stop doing something (e.g., stop a sale, stop communication, stop spreading false information).

• Common law development allows for new types of remedies.

Courts as Legal Advocates

• Reflects the doctrine of the rule of law:

  • Law must be accessible, intelligible, clear, and predictable.

• Judges ensure people understand the law, especially in lower courts with informal interactions and self-representing parties.

• Judges act as educators for each other:

  • Newly appointed judges receive judicial training run by their peers.

  • Training covers the law, process, and rights of judges.

  • Senior judges ensure the legal community is educated.

  • Judges engage with the community in various formats.

Conclusion of Court Functions

• Courts exist in a hierarchy for consistent and correct legal development.

• Hierarchy disadvantages: costs for claimants and delays in process.

• Court functions extend beyond resolving disputes, including making statements of fact, helping people settle outside of court, and awarding remedies.

• Courts incidentally make law through common law rules and statutory interpretation.

Jurisdiction and Judicial Independence

• Jurisdiction: Court's authority to hear and decide on legal matters.

  • The scope of the court's authority to make legal decisions.

  • Example: Environment Court's jurisdiction is limited to resource and environmental management matters.

Types of Jurisdiction

• Statutory jurisdiction: Legislation specifically grants the court authority to rule on an issue within that legislation.

• Inherent jurisdiction: Court's common law right to hear any legal matter, even if it isn't contemplated by statute.

  • Allows courts to hear new types of legal issues.

  • Maintains independence to hear any legal matter.

• Origin:

  • From common law.

  • Affirmed in the Senior Courts Act, Section 12.

  • Conferred to the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.

  • District Court and lower courts have limited jurisdiction.

Examples of Inherent Jurisdiction

• Parens patriae: Right of the court to intervene on a person's behalf when they are incapacitated and need state care.

• Punishment for contempt: Court's power to charge someone for misbehaving in the courtroom.

• Judicial review: Assessing the legality of a minister's decision.

• Bail: Allowing temporary release pending a hearing.

• Jurisdiction over officers: Authority over lawyers.

  • Lawyers are officers of the court and agree to certain standards.

  • The court can reprimand lawyers for misbehavior or misleading the court.

Inherent Powers

• Court's ability to determine its own processes and conduct.

• Examples:

  • Timing of hearings.

  • Courtroom setup.

  • Use of technology (e.g., zooming people in).

  • One-way mirrors for witnesses in criminal proceedings.

  • Reprimanding lawyers.

• Inherent jurisdiction gives the court the flexibility and authority to ensure justice.

• Provides independence from other branches of government, lawyers, and litigious claimants.

Tribunals

• Quasi-judicial bodies created by legislation to adjudicate specific disputes outside the traditional court system.

• Overseen by ministers, but function independently.

• Legislations empower them to make certain types of decisions.

Types of Tribunals

• Administrative reviews (e.g., professional conduct, regulatory compliance).

• Tenancy Tribunal.

• Small Claims Tribunal (hears small civil disputes).

• Functions:

  • distinct from those of the court.

• limited in what they can undertake.

• Purpose:

  • Remove smaller, regular issues from courts.

  • Provide access to legal justice for those who can't afford court.

Executive Policy

• Tribunals are created with executive policy in mind.

  • Small Claims Tribunal: Addresses legal issues under that are too costly for court.

  • Waitangi Tribunal: Responds to protest actions by investigating historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

• Policy can be adjusted by new elected governments.

Key Differences Between Courts and Tribunals

Quotes about Courts and Tribunals

• New Zealand Law Commission Report (2008) described tribunals as institutions standing on the frontiers between law and administration.

• Tribunals are not courts having been created to remove certain decisions from the courts.

• Tribunals are not part of the executive either, because they have been removed from government officials.

• Layman phrasing: Tribunals sit in between the executive and the judiciary.

Implications for the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers

• Tribunals allow the executive to pursue their goals without violating the separation of powers.

• Tribunals fill a gap in the court system by addressing issues that courts do not investigate (e.g., breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi).

• Negative implications:

  • Executive-controlled groups acting like courts (small claims tribunal).

  • New governments can adjust who is on the tribunals, influencing outcomes.

Conclusion

• Jurisdiction: Court's authority to hear and decide legal matters.

  • Statutory or inherent.

  • Inherent jurisdiction: Crucial for judicial independence and allows courts to hear matters not explicitly permitted.

  • Includes contempt and judicial review.

• Tribunals: Quasi-judicial bodies outside the traditional court system.

  • Established by legislation.

  • Empowered to decide disputes, review administrative decisions, and regulate professions.

  • Stand at the frontier between law and administration.