Talk:High Court of New Zealand

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Court title[edit]

User Laurel Lodged moved the article High Court of New Zealand to High Court (New Zealand). I moved it back, as the name of the court is not simply "High Court" but "High Court of New Zealand". Section 12 of the Judicature Amendment Act 1979 provides:

"References to Supreme Court deemed references to High Court

Every reference to the Supreme Court in any enactment passed before the date of the commencement of this section, or in any document executed before that date, shall be deemed to be a reference to the High Court, and every such reference to a Judge of the Supreme Court shall be deemed for all purposes to be a reference to a Judge of the High Court.

The enactment which created the High Court of New Zealand was the Supreme Court Act 1841. Section 1 provides:

"There shall be within the Colony of New Zealand a Court of record for the administration of justice throughout the Colony, which Court shall be called the Supreme Court of New Zealand."

The relevant effect of section 12 of the Judicature Amendment Act 1979 was therefore to replace the words "Supreme Court" in other enactments with "High Court". The balance of the name, "of New Zealand", was left undisturbed. Legally, the Court is therefore styled as the "High Court of New Zealand". This is also reflected on the Court's decisions - eg. Quake Outcasts v The Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery & Anor [2017] NZHC 22 which uses the title 'High Court of New Zealand'.

The shorter phrase "High Court" may be used simply as a shorthand when the subject has already been introduced or already known, but is not the official or formal name.

There is therefore no need for disambiguation. - Sagaciouseight (talk) 06:19, 25 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I think that there needs to be a wider discussion about individual countries appropriating what is, essentially, a very generic name. But for the moment, I'm content for this to be rolled back. Laurel Lodged (talk) 12:38, 26 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]