N.Z. system not encrusted with the same moss

Press, 18 February 1989, Page 25

N.Z. system not encrusted with the same moss

FOR THE MORE traditionally minded members of Britain’s legal establishment, there are times when New Zealand must seem like a wild colonial boy rampaging through hallowed centuries of law in search of something to reform. The Minister of Justice, Geoffrey Palmer, defends the drive to reform our legal system and profession, suggesting that the law in New Zealand has not been encrusted with the layers of moss which have attached themselves to the British legal system. New Zealand, Mr Palmer indicated in Christchurch this week, is moulding its own legal system to meet its own unique requirements. 7 "The structure of the legal

profession in New Zealand is different. We do not have the strange problem faced in the United Kingdom where you must go to a solicitor who is prohibited from appearing in court and must instruct a barrister,” he said.

“A lot of the restrictive practices which exist in the United Kingdom do not exist here.” His comments come two years after both he and the Prime Minister, David Lange, delivered unequivocal messages to the country’s legal profession.

“The legal profession is open to scrutiny and must prepare itself for forms of review which go further into the domain of public accountability,” Mr Lange told the 1987 New Zealand Law Conference in Christchurch. The legal profession, he warned, would face public judgment in a climate “increasingly less tolerant of professional privilege and increasingly demanding of professional performance.” The public would _ demand reform ,■ and better supervision of the profession’s

standards. “I believe that these demands will be satisfied. If there is an element of promise in that prediction, it is deliberate,” the former Auckland lawyer told conference delegates. For the Minister of Justice, many of the English legal influences are gradually being left behind as New Zealand develops its own legal style and culture. "We’re engaged in looking at conveyancing in New Zealand — the occupational licensing (Working group is looking at? this

question now, and it is quite possible that domestic conveyancing will be deregulated. There could be an examination of commercial conveyancing after that," he said this week.

"While I’m tremendously interested in Britain’s legal reforms and the reception given to the proposals, one has to remember that many previous attempts to reform have been repelled in the United Kingdom. On this occasion, all I can do is to wish them luck ...” New Zealand’s Law Practition-1

ers’ Act was "fundamentally” overhauled in 1982. A major review of the courts would emerge from the Law Commission "in a matter of weeks” — a study which would contain recommendations on the totally new structure for. the court system.

“We have done many reforms in New Zealand which they have not yet done in the United Kingdom. We reformed the small claims tribunal system turning it into a disputes tribunal system which is cheap, simple and quick

and which does not require lawyers to be involved. We have a whole range of reforms in New Zealand — the Family Protection Act, the removal of the right to sue for personal injury damages. “We have not become so full of legal moss as they have in the country where common law originated. We are perhaps much more radical in New Zealand.” Mr Palmer believes that the ’X ■

latest British proposals for law reform will cause more than a mild fluttering in legal dovecotes. “The important thing to remember about these proposals is that they have been made by a Scottish lawyer who possibly does not look on the English legal profession with the same sentiment as an English Lord Chancellor. He can show a degree of detachment — Scots law is fundamentally different in its habits and institutions. . “Perhaps it’s good to have a Scottish Lord Chancellor who is prepared to crack a few legal heads from time to time,” Mr Palmer said.

CHRISTOPHER MOORE