Regulatory Systems (Courts) Amendment Bill
This bill makes a large number of small fixes and updates to 15 different laws that govern how New Zealand courts work. It expands what certain court officials can do, such as allowing Family Court Associates (a type of court officer below a judge) to make more decisions on their own. It updates coroner rules to allow inquiries into deaths to be closed early in some cases. It also modernises jury summons rules so jurors can be contacted by email and juries can be selected electronically.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it — with the parts of the text it’s based on.
Court registrars can no longer grant bail in family violence cases — only judges can do that now, and there are new rules about what witness addresses must be shared with defendants.
Clause 90 amends section 27 of the principal Act to remove the ability for a Registrar of the High Court or the District Court, or a Deputy Registrar (a Registrar), to grant bail to a defendant charged with a family violence offence when the criminal proceeding has been adjourned. Only judicial officers will be able to grant bail in those cases.
Clause 96 amends section 17 of the principal Act to provide that information that identifies, or may lead to the identification of, the workplace address of a witness or an informant can only be disclosed to the defendant if— the court gives leave for the disclosure; or it is information that relates to the charge or the case against the defendant and it is necessary to disclose that information to fully and fairly inform the defendant of the charge or the case against the defendant.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
Submissions open once a bill reaches the select committee stage. In the meantime, you can write to your local MP about it.
Write to your MPBill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.