The following argument as to why a remedy requiring the removal of defamatory speech from a publication was not a violation of the right to free speech is representative of one I have previously put before the court: The right to Freedom of Expression is protected by s14 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 […]
Entries Tagged as 'Legal Obligations'
Why Defamatory Speech is not Free Speech
May 27th, 2012 10 Comments
Tags: Defamation · Freedom of Expression · Freedom of Speech · New Zealand Bill of Rights Act · Rights and Freedoms
Klingon Cloaking Devices Unmasked by Boat People
July 15th, 2011 15 Comments
It was inevitable. Sooner or later a boat filled with desperate people would set out from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, whatever, for New Zealand. We have been “protected” to date only by an accident of geography–New Zealand’s relative distance. Australia has faced the problem for decades. A group of Sri Lankan poor (allegedly Tamils previously […]
Tags: Human Rights · Rights and Freedoms · Sri Lankan Boat People
No Special Rights, So . . . One Law for All
May 9th, 2011 4 Comments
We remain militantly critical of contemporary Maori ideology. We believe it excuses personal and family accountability by resorting to the fallacy of historical determinism: Maori, their leadership tells them, are victims of predatory exploitation by European or imperial powers; the significant cause of social and cultural and spiritual degradation amongst Maori stems from the unjust […]
Tags: Justice · Māori Land · Restitution · Te Urewera National Park · Tuhoe
Sovereignty and The Treaty of Waitangi
February 6th, 2010 18 Comments
In the Theory of Morality, Alan Donagan has a concise discussion of the morality of contracts. At one point he makes the following plausible argument, Obviously, the normal conditions of the existence of a contract are not fulfilled if the promisee misunderstands what the promiser intends. … a promiser is morally bound to perform whatever […]
Tags: Alan Donagan · Jurisprudence · Sovereignty · Treaty of Waitangi
Tune in to Marae Tomorrow
February 5th, 2010 9 Comments
Yesterday Matt and I participated in filming a debate on the Treaty of Waitangi. The moot was “That the Treaty of Waitangi is holding NZ back.” There were four panelists, Stephen Franks, Tim Wikiriwhi, Matthew Hooten and Hana O’Regan and an active audience, of which Matt and I were asked to be members of to […]
Tags: Hana O'Regan · John Minto · Marae · Matthew Hooten · Shane Taurima · Stephen Franks · Tim Wikiriwhi · Treaty of Waitangi · TV One · TVNZ
Fisking Margaret Mayman: The Flawed Moral Theology on the Smacking Referendum
July 7th, 2009 7 Comments
In “A Christian Perspective on the Child Discipline Referendum,” Rev Dr Margaret Mayman presents a theological justification for retaining the amended section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which has criminalised force used against a child for the purposes of parental correction. Mayman began by offering three standard arguments for repealing the old section 59, […]
Tags: Crimes Act · David Benatar · Hermeneutics · Margaret Mayman · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Theology
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
Yet Another Lawyer Agrees: Marriage Amendment Act Bill is an Affront to Freedom of Religion and Belief
March 13th, 2013 22 Comments
Barrister Ian Bassett has given another opinion describing the risks to freedom of religion and belief of Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Act Bill if it is enacted in its presently proposed form, which would include this amendment: “Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), no celebrant who is a minister of religion recognised by a religious […]
Tags: Freedom of Religion · Gay Marriage · Grant Illingworth · Ian Bassett · Louisa Wall · Marriage Amendment Act Bill · Marriage Equality · Paul Rishworth · Rachael Wong · Same Sex Marriage