High Court of New Zealand

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High Court of New Zealand
Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa (Māori)
Established	1841
Location	Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and other main centres
Authorized by	Senior Courts Act 2016
Decisions are appealed to	Court of Appeal of New Zealand
Decisions are heard for appeals from	District Courts Environment Court Family Court Youth Court Various Tribunals
Number of positions	39 Judges and 7 Associate Judges
Website	http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/
Chief High Court Judge of New Zealand
Currently	The Hon Justice Venning
Since	2015

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The High Court of New Zealand is a superior court established in 1841.^[1] It was originally called the 'Supreme Court of New Zealand', but was renamed in 1980^[2] to make way for the naming of a new Supreme Court of New Zealand,^[3] which first met in 2004.

The High Court has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration of justice throughout New Zealand. Jurisdiction extends over both criminal and civil matters, and deals with cases at first instance or on appeal from other courts and certain tribunals.

Contents

• 
  1 Composition and locations
  


• 
  2 Jurisdiction
  
  
  
  • 
    2.1 Criminal matters
    
  
  
  • 
    2.2 Civil matters
    
  
  
  • 
    2.3 Appellate function
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  3 Judges of the High Court
  


• 
  4 Relationship with Australian courts
  


• 
  5 References
  


• 
  6 External links
  

Composition and locations

The High Court comprises the Chief Justice of New Zealand (who is head of the Judiciary) and up to 55 other Judges (which includes the Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal). The administrative head of the court is known as the Chief High Court Judge. Associate Judges of the High Court (formerly known as Masters) supervise the Court's preliminary processes in most civil proceedings, and have jurisdiction to deal with summary judgment applications, company liquidations, bankruptcy proceedings, and some other types of civil proceedings.

The High Court Judges and Associate Judges are based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, but also travel on circuit to Whangarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Nelson, Blenheim, Greymouth, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill. The Court also has a registry in Masterton.

Wellington High Court in 2015

Jurisdiction

Criminal matters

The High Court deals with the most serious types of criminal offences that exceed the District Court's jurisdiction. It deals with all category 4 offences, including murder, manslaughter and treason,^[4] as well as any other offence where the accused is likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment or preventive detention. A High Court Judge may direct that a serious category 2 and 3 "protocol" offence, such as aggravated wounding with intent, kidnapping or sexual violation of a child, be transferred from the District Court to the High Court for hearing.^[5] Most cases are heard before a judge and jury, but may sometimes be heard before a judge alone.

Civil matters

The Court generally deals only with those civil claims that exceed the jurisdiction of the District Court or other courts and tribunals, including cases where the amount in dispute exceeds $350,000 or where particularly complex issues are involved. This jurisdiction includes matters concerning admiralty, company law, bankruptcy, the administration of estates and trusts, property transfer, land valuation, and many other areas.

Appellate function

Rights of appeal to the High Court exist against the decisions of the District Court (except for jury trials), the Family Court, the Youth Court and the Environment Court and numerous administrative tribunals and regulatory bodies.

Judges of the High Court

The following are the judges of the High Court as of December 2018^[update]:^[6]

Name	Appointed	Resident court	Notes
Geoffrey Venning	2002	Wellington	Chief High Court Judge (since 1 June 2015)
Patricia Courtney	2004	Auckland
Simon France	2005	Wellington
Graham Lang	2005	Auckland
Jillian Mallon	2006	Wellington
Peter Woodhouse QC	2007	Auckland
Alisa Duffy QC	2007	Auckland
Robert Dobson QC	2007	Wellington
Edwin Wylie QC	2008	Auckland
Rebecca Ellis	2009	Wellington
Timothy Brewer ONZM	2010	Auckland
Mary Peters	2010	Auckland
Mark Woolford	2010	Auckland
Christian Whata	2011	Auckland
Kit Toogood QC	2011	Auckland
David Collins QC	2012	Wellington
Sarah Katz	2012	Auckland
David Gendall	2013	Christchurch
Cameron Mander	2013	Christchurch
Rachel Dunningham	2014	Christchurch
Susan Thomas	2014	Wellington
Simon Moore QC	2014	Auckland
Matthew Muir QC	2014	Auckland
Ann Hinton QC	2014	Auckland
Gerald Nation	2015	Christchurch
Nick Davidson QC	2015	Christchurch
Rebecca Edwards	2015	Auckland
Karen Clark QC	2015	Wellington
Matthew Palmer QC	2015	Auckland
Paul Davison QC	2015	Auckland
Helen Cull QC	2016	Wellington
Mathew Downs	2016	Auckland
Sally Fitzgerald	2016	Auckland
Christine Gordon QC	2016	Auckland
Peter Churchman QC	2017	Wellington
Pheroze Jagose	2017	Auckland
Gerard van Bohemen	2017	Auckland
Christine Grice CNZM	2018	Wellington
Grant Powell	2018	Auckland
Francis Cooke QC	2018	Wellington
Robert Osborne	2018	Auckland	[7]
Ian Gault	2018	Wellington	[7]

Relationship with Australian courts

The Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 (NZ), the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 (Aust) and the High Court Rules 2016 streamline the process for resolving civil proceedings with a trans-Tasman element. The Acts cover many matters including service, interim relief, hearing matters remotely and the enforcement of judgments of courts of the other country.

References

1. 
   ^ Supreme Court Act 1841 (NZ)
   


2. 
   ^ Judicature Amendment Act 1979 (NZ), s 12.
   


3. 
   ^ "History and role — Courts of New Zealand". www.courtsofnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 2017-01-25..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


4. 
   ^ Criminal Procedure Act 2011, section 74(3).
   


5. 
   ^ Criminal Procedure Act 2011, sections 66 to 70.
   


6. 
   ^ "The Judges and Associate Judges of the High Court". Courts of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
   


7. 
   ^ ^ab "Appointments of Judges of the High Court". Scoop. New Zealand Government. 6 December 2018.
   

External links

• The High Court of New Zealand


• High Court Rules 2016


• Judicial Decisions Online

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