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Preface

THE TREATY MAKING PROCESS: REFORM AND THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENT (NZLC R45 1997) continues the Law Commission’s work in public law. It forms part of the International Obligations Project which aims to improve the awareness of international law in New Zealand, including New Zealand’s international rights and obligations and the means by which these are created.

This report builds on the material gathered in the earlier Commission report, A New Zealand Guide to International Law and its Sources (NZLC R34 1996). That document provides useful background information for this publication – in particular Part 1 covers: What is a treaty? How are treaties negotiated and agreed to? How are treaties given effect to at the international level? The character of the relationships under treaties; The implementation of treaties through national legislation; and The implementation of treaties through the courts.

In 1993 the Law Commission first circulated a draft report, The Making, Acceptance and Implementation of Treaties: Three Issues for Consideration, written for the Commission by its then President, Sir Kenneth Keith. The responses to the draft report’s proposals were in the main supportive. In 1997 the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee asked the Commission to make a submission on its Proposed Inquiry into the Role of Parliament in the Implementation of Treaties. This report builds upon and finalises the material contained in that draft report and submission. It also conforms with the Law Commission’s statutory responsibility under s 5(b) and s 5(d) of the Law Commission Act 1985 to recommend development of the law of New Zealand and, importantly, to make it as understandable and accessible as is practicable.

In the preparation of this report the Commission is indebted to the following people for their valuable assistance and perceptive comments: Hon Justice Sir Kenneth Keith, Court of Appeal; Mr Don MacKay, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Mr David McGee, Clerk of the House of Representatives; Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Chen & Palmer; Mr FA Small, former Director of Legal Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Retired); Mr Alan Bracegirdle, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives; Mr Mark Gobbi, Ministry of Justice; Ms Carolyn Coll-Bassett, lawyer (on leave), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Associate Professor Scott Davidson, University of Canterbury; Mr John Dawson, Senior Lecturer, University of Otago; Mr Terence O’Brien, Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington; Ms Janet McLean, Director, Public Law Institute, Victoria University of Wellington; Ms Melissa Poole, Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington; Professor Mike Taggart, University of Auckland; Mr Paul Rishworth, Lecturer, University of Auckland. The Commission also acknowledges the work of Diana Pickard, a legal researcher who completed much of the research and drafting of the report.