Section Three: Legislation

Introduction

Since ancient times societies have attempted to 'codify' their rules and laws by writing them down and publicising them in an attempt to provide consistency and certainty. Written legislation (also known as statute law) consists of Acts of Parliament as well as other legislative instruments such as Regulations, Rules and Bylaws.

New Zealand has hundreds of statutes in force and there is a constant process of amendments to existing statutes and introduction of new legislation in Parliament. There is a certain vernacular in legislation and certain rules about how to interpret its meaning. In this section you will practise finding provisions in legislation online and interpreting them.

Reading

• Judicial JP Manual chapter 1, part 4, paragraphs 4.1 - 4.2
• NZ Legal System chapter 8

Further information can be found at this weblink:

Legislation on the Parliament website

This website contains links back to the official legislation website but here you can also find out where a new Bill is in its journey through Parliament.