The Evening Post
April 18 2001

Did law lords get it wrong?
Letters to the Editor
by Peter Watson, Linden

Periodically there are calls to abandon not only the Queen but also the Privy Council as being costly and irrelevant.

Recently, it was announced (The Post, April 7) that the Privy Council had found in favour of the Valentine's restaurant chain in a dispute with a developer. This was despite both the New Zealand High Court and the Court of Appeal having found for the developer. What's more, the Privy Council included at the time a member of the New Zealand judiciary, Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.

This action by the council raises many questions. Did both New Zealand courts get it wrong or has the Privy Council got it wrong? Surely all three can't be right. Or can they - and is my simple and non-legal mind not able to cope with such an outcome?

Can we be assured that if we do eventually discard the Privy Council we will continue to receive a reasonable standard of justice? I would like to think so and that the New Zealand courts are up to the job. Unfortunately, when the Privy Council finds differently, as with the Valentine's case, I have to wonder not only about our courts but those who would make them the sole dispensers of justice in this country.

I am sure Arthur Allan Thomas and Peter Ellis, to name but two, might have similar views about the wisdom of such a move.