Te Aka Kōrero No. 4 - News from the New Zealand Law Commission

We value your support in improving New Zealand's laws. This newsletter will help you stay up to date with the Law Commission's work and have your say on law reform.

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Accounting for Te Ao Māori

The Law Commission has a legal duty to take into account te ao Māori in its work, so how does it go about doing this?

Court considers pre-nuptial agreements

We want to hear people's opinions on when and how people should be able to contract out of sharing their property. There are some couples that do not want the law to assume they share property, but there are also situations where pre-nuptial contracts may have unfair and unreasonable outcomes.

DNA advances raise questions for criminal investigations

In some countries, scientists are using genetic research to analyse DNA samples from a crime scene in order to predict what a suspected offender might look like or what a person’s ethnicity might be.

A better criminal justice system for Aotearoa

With record numbers of Māori in prison, and Māori over-represented throughout the criminal justice system, it is time to reform criminal justice in Aotearoa.

That was one of the main messages to come from whiti te rā, a kaupapa Māori hui on transforming criminal justice held at Te Papa-i-ouru marae in Rotorua last month.

A female first

With Belinda Clark joining Donna Buckingham and Helen McQueen at the Law Commission it has, for the first time, a majority of female Commissioners.

Reforming the Law of Evidence Conference – 8 September

Law Commission President Douglas White says it is serendipitous that evidence experts from across Australasia are gathering for a conference just as the Commission commences its second review of the Evidence Act 2006’s operation.

Forward

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