This essay was published in the Auckland District Law Society’s LawNews on 6 August 2023 under the headline “NZLS abolishes Rule of Law Committee, dumps expert advisers.” The New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) supposedly exists to represent lawyers and to serve their interests. As lawyers are subject to the fundamental obligation to uphold the rule of law and facilitate the administration of justice, one might have thought the last thing the Society would do is to deprive itself and the legal profession of the assistance of a group of eminent academic and practising lawyers dedicated to assisting lawyers and the Society with rule of law issues. Yet, that is what has happened. This essay examines the circumstances.
Judicial independence is a critical ingredient of the rule of law. Tom Bingham’s The Rule of Law[1] has a lot to say about it. For example,
