Newspaper Article – Ocker laws govern NZ – and the first was on liquor

Ocker laws govern NZ – and the first was on liquor

SESSION I.   No. I.

AN ORDINANCE to declare that the Laws of New South Wales so far as they can be made applicable shall extend to and be in force in Her Majesty’s Colony of New Zealand from and subsequent to the date of Her Majesty’s Royal Charter and Letters Patent erecting into a separate Colony the Islands of New Zealand, and to indemnify the Lieutenant-Governor and other Officers thereof for certain acts done and performed between the date of the said Royal Charter and Letters Patent and the day of passing this Ordinance. [3rd June, 1841.]

(By MARY HOLLYWOOD)

Despite the fact that New Zealand in its infancy was a British colony and, ostensibly, ruled by English laws, this was not so.

Proof of this lies above the “seat of justice” – the Hawke’s Bay Law Society’s library in the Napier Courthouse.

There is the record of the New Zealand Legislative Council’s “Session 1 – No. 1,” which declares that the laws of New South Wales – “so far as they can be made applicable’ – shall extend to New Zealand.

With all the pressing matters facing the growth of the colony it seems ironic that one of the first bills passed under the new laws was the Sale of Liquor Act.

The library – considered to be one of New Zealand’s best outside metropolitan areas – is thought to have been established about the time the courthouse was built 104 years ago. The society itself, however, was not formed until 1886.

Some of the early volumes in the collection are believed to have been used by legal offices throughout the British Empire. Many are thought to have come from India.

The earliest New Zealand regulations are contained in volume No. 1 of the New Zealand Gazette, dated-1859. This relic and all subsequent issues are on the library shelves.

The collection also includes the New Zealand Statutes from the first published volume.

The library houses three complete sets of Australian Law Reports, three sets of current English Law Reports as well as some old English reports.

The value of the collection is set conservatively at $500,000.

Many of the early British volumes cover the laws of commerce, trade, and geography. There are volumes covering canal reports, water course reports and the Workmen’s Compensation Act which was passed in England in 1903.

Some of the earliest shipping “cases” contain references to claims made on cargo carried in ships plying between Britain “and the Colony of New Zealand”.

As well as case histories and reports, and library contains a reference’ section covering all aspects of law and legality. The “authorities” for many submissions made in the courthouse one storey below are researched in the quiet sanctum of the library.

As well as the law reports, text books and gazettes the library receives the weekly and monthly publications printed specifically for the legal profession.

Today, legal text books and reports are written almost entirely in English. Barristers and solicitors practising in the late 1800s and early 1900s were not so fortunate. Many of the legal reference books were printed in Norman French and had to be quoted verbatum [verbatim].

Unscathed

Fortunately for the society its library was left unscathed by the 1931 Napier earthquake. Although wooden buildings near the courthouse were damaged or destroyed by fire, the court was comparatively free from damage, apart from a good shaking. Retired Napier solicitor, Mr John Tattersall can prove that: He was in, the courtroom when the earthquake struck.

“The library was housed in the northern end of the building at that time, opposite the Hawke’s Bay club. I don’t think anything was badly damaged but there were books lying up to two feet on the ground,” Mr Tattersall recalled.

Photo caption – AN ESTIMATED $0.5 million dollars worth of books are stored in Napier’s Law Society library.