Strictly Obiter

How I imagine all submissions in the BCCA go.

No New Zealand court has done what I'm arguing for. No English court either. Nor Australian. But when times are tough you'll always have a friend in the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

Cook Islands CA sitting in Wellington.

Hanna Wilberg – Administrative Law in Aotearoa New Zealand (or: I don’t have SSRN) I don’t have a SSRN like those cool academic types, but I wrote this review of Hanna Wilberg’s new textbook Administrative Law in Aotearoa New Zealand for Public Law Review. Since my dr…

strictlyobiter.com/2026/03/06/h...

I'm doing the job I was born to do (proof reading the list of senior court judges names for the front of the hardcopy 2025 volumes of the NZLRs).

Really want even one of my reserved judgments back. As a little Friday treat.

Three young profs-goers waiting in this cafe and about to do their mock cross-examination. Much debate between them about whether they are meant to say good morning to the witness at the start.

I would rather resign as a Minister of the Crown than say this.

Beyond a lawyer's wildest dreams - the registry wrongly insists an affidavit is required and your client pays you to successfully review the registrar's decision even when doing so has become moot.

Chief Executive of the New Zealand Customs Service v Chinchiller Brewing Ltd [2026] NZHC 341

I finished my review and despite his better judgement @edwardmwillis.bsky.social will let it in his book review section for Public Law Review. His original email to me said he "couldn’t think of anyone better than [me] to ask", which really needed either a (complimentary) or (derogatory) after it.

What a way to learn I’m mid.

A question heavily litigated over dinner. Much more talented wife wants a purposive reading and says no. Her arch-textualist husband says the answer is yes, on the basis that Wellington Zoo has scorpions.

In re John Richard Templin Scholarship Trust [2026] NZHC 351. Seeking the Court's amendment of a Canterbury and Lincoln scholarship trust deed from the 1950s which requires scholarship applicants to be "of the White Race or a Māori".

Don't get me started.

Over time, certain legal work becomes less specialised and more commoditised due to the frequency with which it is performed - things like conveyancing, visa applications, and urgent injunctions against hackers who stole your patients' details.

Yes.

As Muldoon famously remarked about NZers who move to Australia, “It doesn't give my opponents much time to run up to an election does it?”

I have once again been victimised by the District Court civil jurisdiction.

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window (Forcing The Council To Spend Defending This Case)?

“Justice Andrew Becroft described the case as incredibly unorthodox.” Well, yeah. Only because he couldn’t use swears.

Oh no, I am taking it into work but now my much more talented wife is just reading passages out to me and asking “is he related to [present day practitioner]?”. (The answer is always yes.)

Once again looking up Portrait of a Profession to confirm my “well actually it’s not the first time this has happened - we did it for Chief Justice Skerrett” fact check.

The fair-minded and fully-informed lay observer’s cousin from Mosgiel.

Ninety seconds into speeches at Glazebrook J's valedictory setting.

Glazebrook J: Counsel, I had some questions.

It used to not be possible to tell which SC judge of a three judge panel wrote a leave judgment. But then Kós J was appointed and now there are occasional signs.

Great news, great judge!

Hot Cars Ltd v Police

chat, what does it mean when your sentencing judge references Charles I?

The last thing you see in Dunsandel before you're sent to prison.

ME: (first day practicing Bug Law) May it please the Court—
BUG JUDGE: (sternly) Bug Court.