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Midson, Brenda and MacKinnon, Jacquelin --- "Editors Introduction" [2001] NZYbkNZJur 1; (2001) 5 Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence v

Last Updated: 12 April 2015

EDITORS' INTRODUCTION

The Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence is an annual collection of papers contributed by participants in the staff seminar series of the University of Waikato School of Law and is published in conjunction with the Centre for New Zealand Jurisprudence. The School of Law was founded in 1991 to provide a professional legal education, to develop a bicultural approach to legal education, and to teach law in the contexts in which it is made and applied. The Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence aims to stimulate and contribute to the development of a New Zealand jurisprudence by publishing articles, essays and other forms of analysis and comment which directly address or are relevant to New Zealand jurisprudence. The articles in this issue are contributed by staff at the School of Law and by visiting scholars.

These articles canvas a broad range of contemporary issues, and a common theme discernible throughout is the notion of sovereignty —the tensions between regulation and freedom, the imposition of restraints and movements for self-determination.

John Hopkins's article focuses on the concept of sovereignty and the paradigm of the nation state in the context of discussions about governance in the European Union. Dr Hopkins asserts that it is necessary to reassess the whole premise of the sovereign nation-state and the principle of sovereignty in order to understand the fundamental changes to the nature of territorial governance that have taken place in the United Kingdom and in other member states of the European Union. He concludes that the devolution of power to constituent parts of the United Kingdom has spelt the end of a sovereign Britain, as commonly understood. Dr Hopkins's paper is of particular interest given the debates surrounding the Local Government Bill 2001 (NZ), which bill seeks to establish the role of local authorities in the democratic governance of communities and to empower local authorities to promote the interests and meet the needs of communities in transparent and accountable ways.

Bent Ole Gram Mortensen considers, in the context of environmental protection, the concept of renewable energy and its promotion via `green certificates' in Denmark and other European states. The article uses the planned Danish Renewable Energy certificate system to
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analyse the legal nature of an RE certificate scheme and identify attendant problems. Dr Mortensen identifies, inter alia, a potential problem arising from European Union regulation that limits to some extent the legislative freedom of the individual member states. The Danish RE certificate scheme is a national scheme, which might be in conflict with EU regulation. This article assists our understanding of part of the context in which the New Zealand Government considered this country's renewable energy policy regarding targets and mechanisms.

Neil Boister and Richard Burchill discuss how developed states address the problems of tobacco smuggling to developing states. They provide suggestions for improving the legal suppression of tobacco smuggling with a view to achieving a comprehensive global approach. The article considers the United Kingdom's 'contradictory approach' to tobacco smuggling, and explores the role of the United Nations Transnational Organised Crime Convention (of which New Zealand is a signatory) in the suppression of extraterritorial tobacco smuggling, thus enabling developed states to meet their 'crucial moral and political responsibility for global suppression of illicit tobacco supply'.

Geraint Howells also asserts that the law is seen as having a role in controlling smoking behaviour. Professor Howells discusses advantages and disadvantages of public law regulation as compared with private law liability as a tool for dealing with public health problems surrounding tobacco, and analyses the relationship between European Union regulation in this area and the national law of member states. The author identifies that New Zealand's Accident Compensation legislation and the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 may make New Zealand more receptive to a regulatory approach.

Leah Whiu draws upon her own experience, in addition to a growing body of literature, to challenge the dominant theory of identity construction specifically in the context of colonized Aotearoa. The dominant theory, based as it is upon binary logic, is considered particularly as it is applied to subjugated groups — indigenous, feminist, and lesbian and gay communities. Ms Whiu suggests that the tools for dismantling this theory must come from outside of Western epistemology — that alternative consciousness is necessary to transform oppressive practices.
vii The Editorial Committee would like to thank the authors for their contributed articles and the referees to whom these articles were sent for their helpful contributions. We would also like to thank Raewyn McGregor for her continued outstanding administrative and secretarial support, and Joan Havemann for her expert copy-editing and formatting of this volume.

Brenda Midson and Jacquelin Mackinnon

Editors

Yearbook of New Zealand Jurisprudence