Evolution of a Legal System

Notes for a dialogue between Sir Ivor Richardson and the Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer held at the Australasian Law Teachers' Association Conference at Victoria University of Wellington, 6 July 1999

Provision of Legal Services to Government

This article was presented as a lecture on "Capital Law School Day" organised by the New Zealand Institute of Advanced Legal Studies to mark the occasion of the centenary of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington in 199

The Hazards of Making Constitutions: Some Reflections on Comparative Constitutional Law

After teaching comparative constitutional law in the United States, Sir Geoffrey Palmer explores the nature of constitutional law in general terms and how New Zealand could learn from others. The author compares New Zealand's uncodified constitution to, for example, the United States who has a codified written constitution. The article then discusses the entrenched nature of some constitutions, compared to New Zealand's flexible and fluid constitution that exists largely in several ordinary statutes. Because of New Zealand's fragmented constitution, it is argued that its constitution has an unclear and indeterminate status; indeed, constitutional policy hardly makes an appearance in New Zealand politics. The author briefly looks at how constitutions protect fundamental rights and constitutional design in general terms, concluding that New Zealand's discussions on constitutional themes are too infused with analytical positivism, legalism, and traditionalism for policy issues. Finally, the author discusses the role of Fiji's constitution in light of its military coups. The author concludes that constitutional reform is needed in New Zealand in the form of a written and codified constitution. &nbsp

The Resource Legislation Amendment Bill, the Productivity Commission Report and the future of Planning for the Environment in New Zealand

Let us begin with the proposition that there is much in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) that needs to be fixed. How that cure is to be effected is not widely agreed. Indeed, the policy surrounding the Resource Management Act at present seems confused. We need to stop and ask, what are we trying to do in this space? I shall in this address try to unravel the issues. Being a planner in this febrile policy context must have its challenges

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial

Sustainable – New Zealand’s Resource Management Legislation

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Climate change and New Zealand: is it doom or can we hope?

Climate change is a wickedly difficult problem. It involves a complex matrix of scientific, political, social, economic and ethical considerations. While these many different intellectual perspectives are important, they also pose problems in arriving at appropriate solutions. In order to solve the issue of climate change it is necessary to draw on many academic disciplines. Virtually all the sciences are engaged: biology, chemistry, geology, and physics and atmospheric science, ecology, genetics, mathematics and meteorology; also geography, a discipline that spans both natural and social sciences.&nbsp