94 S e cti o n T w o – c iv il and politi cal rights New Zealand today Aotearoa i tënei rä and District Courts, in the light of national and overseas developments. The Rules Committee has made significant contributions, simplifying and streamlining procedures in The law must be accessible, the District and High Court, drafting the Judicature (High intelligible, clear and predictable Court Rules) Amendment Act 2008 and the District Court Increasingly, agencies and departments are consulting Rules 2009. In relation to the new District Court Rules, with the Legislation Advisory Committee in advance of the Rules Committee described the need for the change as framing their legislative proposals, and there is consider- follows: able benefit in that practice. 23 The traditional interlocutory process is It has been stated that the Parliamentary Counsel Office cumbersome, time-consuming, and comes at a strives to “improve access to legislation so that legislation disproportionate cost to most litigation in the is drafted as clearly and simply as possible”, and to ensure District Court… Fundamental to the new rules that “New Zealand legislation is readily accessible”. 24 The New Zealand Legislation website provides access to acts, statutory regulations, bills and supplementary order papers. In 2010 the Legislation Bill was introduced to Parliament. The purpose of this bill is to modernise and improve the law relating to the publication, availability, reprinting, revision and official versions of legislation, and to bring this law together in a single piece of legislation. A variety of information and assistance is available is the principle that litigants in the District Court should be able to give notice of their claims and defences simply and economically. They should be empowered readily, easily and efficiently to receive and obtain from each other relevant evidential and documentary information at the earliest practicable points. 27 from government and other bodies (such as community Urgency law centres) about legal requirements across a range of As Sir Geoffrey Palmer has observed: areas. Increasingly, this is available in a range of different languages. Law-making should be a solemn and deliberate business. It ought to permit time Periodic review of New Zealand’s laws and regulations for reflection and sober second thought. It ensures that improvements can be made to enacted ought to be organised so that people have a legislation. This is the responsibility not only of government departments and agencies administering legislation, but also of specialist bodies. For example, the chance of knowing what is happening and making representations about it if they wish. 28 Rules Committee continuously reviews procedural rules He identified the dangers that flow from the rapid passing in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court of legislation, including lack of time for the public to 23 Palmer G (2006), Law reform and the Law Commission after 20 years – we need to try a little harder, Speech to para 89. Accessible online at http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/UploadFiles/SpeechPaper/d0c9b674-5a55-405d-9b3c-2cfd467a0d5d//Law%20Reform%20and%20 the%20Law%20Commission%20in%20NZ%20after%2020%20years.pdf 24 Parliamentary Counsel Office, PCO’s Mission and Vision Statements, accessible online at http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/ mission-and-vision/ 25 http://www.legislation.govt.nz 26 The Rules Committee is a statutory body established by section 51b of the Judicature Act 1908. 27 Rules Committee Information Paper, paras 5 and 7 http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/about/system/rules_committee/district-courts-revision/ Rules-Committee-DCR-overview.pdf. The rules provide a streamlined process with a logically staged exchange of relevant information which is conducive to exploration of settlement. If early settlement is not achieved, a more elaborate ‘information capsule’ exchange procedure provides adequate foundation for examination of the merits and the parties’ needs and interests at an early settlement conference. If settlement is not reached, the dispute can be promptly channelled into a form of adjudication proportionate to the case. It is anticipated the information exchanged by that point will largely remove the current discovery complications and their attendant expense. 28 Palmer G (1987), Unbridled Power ( Auckland: OUP) at 160