Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

New Zealand: Acts affecting Native Lands, 1886, 1888-91 and 1894-95

Part IV. — Peactice and Peoceduee

Previous Section | Table of Contents | Up | Next Section

Part IV.
Peactice and Peoceduee.

(1.) General.

16.Appointment of sittings. The Court shall sit at such times and places as the Minister by notice, given in such manner as may be prescribed, page 9shall appoifit. Before the time appointed for the commencement of a sitting, the Minister may order such sitting Adjournment. to be adjourned to such time and place as be may think fit. After the commencement of a sitting,. the presiding Judge, or, in the absence of a Judge, any person for the time being acting as Clerk, may adjourn such sitting from time to time and from place to place, or may so adjourn any part or parts of the business notified to be dealt with at any such sitting, or adjourn the same respectively sine die.
17.Commencement of proceedings. The jurisdiction of the Court in any matter may be exercised on the written application of any person ciaiming an interest therein, and, in the course of the proceedings on any application, the Court may without rurther application, and upon such terms as to notice to parties and otherwise as the Court thinks fit, proceed to exercise any other part or parts of its jurisdiction which it may consider necessary or expedient to exercise; and the Court may in its discretion deal with the subject-matter of any application wholly or ia part or parts, and issue separate orders in respect of such part or parts, and any application may be dismissed or (with the consent of the Court) extended or amended or withdrawn wholly or in part; and the Court may, on the completion of any stage in any proceedings, make any interlocutory order which it may deem necessary or expedient.
18.Judge shall be assisted by Assessor in certain eases. A Judge sitting alone may exeroise all the powers of the Court, but in exereising jurisdiction under subsections one, two, four, five, or ten of section iourteen hereof shall be assisted by an Assessor, whose concurrence in any judgment or order shall not be necessary to the validity thereof
19.Change of Judge or Assessor. Proceedings may be continued before a Judge, or Judge and Assessor, other than the Judge or Judge and Assessor before whom they were commenced, or before the same Judge and another Assessor.
20.Appearance by counsel or agent. No person may appear or be assisted in Court by counsel or agent without the assent of the presiding Judge first obtained. Such assent may be at any time withdrawn.

(2.) Evidence.

21.Testimony and evidence. The Court may act on any testimony, sworn or unsworn, and may receive as evidence any statement, document, information, or matter which, in the opinion of the Court, may assist the Court to deal effectually with the matters before it.
22.Witnesses may be summoned. The Court may, by summons in writing under the hand of a Judge, require any person to appear before the Court, at such time and place as shall be specified in the summons, to give evidence in the matter of any proceeding; and such person may be required by such summons to produce any books, deeds, papers, and writings relating to such proceeding and in his possession or under his control.
23.Penalty for disobedience. Any person on whom any such summons shall have been served personally, or in any manner prescribed, and to whom at the same time payment or a tender of his expenses shall have been made on the scale to be prescribed, and who shall neglect or fail without sufficient cause to appear, or to produce any books, deeds, papers, or page 10writings required by such summons to be produced; and any person, whether summoned to attend or not, who, being present in Court and being required to give evidence, shall refuse to be sworn or to give evidence, or who, having been sworn to give evidence in a proceeding, shall neglect or fail to appear at such time as the Court may direct for the purpose of giving further evidence in such proceeding, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, and, in default of payment, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding fourteen days.
24.Witness in custody. A Judge may, upon application on affidavit of any party to a proceeding, issue an order under his hand and the seal of the Court for bringing up before the Court any prisoner or person confined in any gaol, prison, or place under any sentence, or under any commitment for trial or otherwise, to be examined as a witness in such proceeding; and the person required by such order to be brought before the Court shall be so brought under the same care and custody, and to be dealt with in like manner in all respects, as a prisoner required by any writ of habeas corpus awarded by the Supreme Court of New Zealand to be brought before such Court, to be examined as a witness in any cause or matter depending before such Court, is now by law required to be dealt with: Provided always that the person having the custody of such prisoner or person shall not be bound to obey such order unless a tender be made to him of a reasonable sum for the conveyance and maintenance of a proper officer or officers and of the prisoner or person in going to, remaining at, and returning from the Court.
25.Evidence may be taken before another Judge. The Court may request any Judge or Stipendiary Magistrate to examine any person whose attendance cannot, by reason of distance or otherwise, be conveniently obtained. The Judge or Stipendiary Magistrate to whom such request is made shall summon such person to give evidence, and shall examine him accordingly. The evidence of such person shall be reduced to writing, and signed by him and by the Judge or Stipendiary Magistrate before whom the same is taken, and may be used by the Court in such manner as the circumstances of the case may require.
26.Affidavits and affirmations. 26. Affidavits or affirmations to be used in any proceeding may be sworn or made respectively before a Judge, Registrar, Deputy Registrar, a solicitor of the Supreme Court, or a Justice of the Peace.
27.Authority to valuer. The Court may authorise any valuer or other person to enter upon any land the subject of a proceeding; and any person impeding any one acting under such authority shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty-five pounds, and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month.

(3.) Judgment Orders

28.Judgment, &c, by order 28. Every definitive judgment, decision, or award of, and every imposition of penalty by, the Court shall be by order.
29.Chief Judge to sign for retired Judge. 29. The Chief Judge may sign any order which ought to have been signed by a deceased or retired Judge.
30.Order may be registerd. 30. Every order or application to amend or vary any order affecting land may be registered.page 11
31.Date of effect of order. An order of the Court shall bear date and shall be deemed to have been made on the day on which the Court decided that such order should be made, and shall take effect as from such date; but the Court may in any order direct that the same shall take effect on some day before or after the day on which the same is made.
32.Order in name of deceased Native. An order may issue in the name of a deceased Native.
33.Extension of time. The Court may from time to time extend any time limited or fixed by any order heretofore made or hereafter to be made, whether or not such time has or shall have expired.
34.Plan or description of land in order. Every order vesting land or any parcel of land, not already described in a Crown grant, shall describe the same by reference to some certified plan thereof, or, if there be no certified plan thereof, shall describe the same with sufficient accuracy to enable the same to be identified and the boundaries thereof to be correctly laid down on survey.
35.Orders for payment of money, &c., may be filed in Supreme Court. Any order of the Court under subsection nine of section fourteen of this Act may be filed in the office of the Suprerne Court within the Supreme Court district in which such order was made; and thereupon such order shall become a judgment of the Supreme Court, and such further proceedings may be taken and had thereon in default of compliance with the terms thereof as could be taken if the same had been originally a judgment of the Supreme Court.
36.Intant's age to be stated. Every order in favour of an infant shall state the age of such infant as nearly as can be ascertained, and such statement of age may be amended; but while the same shall remain unamended the age stated therein shall, in respect of the subject - matter thereof, be deemed to be the age of such infant at the date of such order.
37.Amendments of statement. No amendment of the statement of age of an infant in any order shall prejudice or affect anything done on the assumption that such age was prior to such amendment correctly stated in such order.

(4.) Amendment.

38.General. All amendments necessary to remedy or correct defects or errors in any proceeding or document, or to give effect to or record the intended decision in any proceeding, may be made at any time by the Court or by any Judge, whether applied for or not, and upon such terms (if any) as to payment of costs or otherwise as to the Court may appear just.
39.
Amendment after title ascertained. Where through any mistake, error, or omission, the Court by its order, heretofore or hereafter to be made, has or shall have in effect done or left undone something which it did not actually intend to do or leave undone, or would not but for such mistake, error, or omission have done or left undone, or, where the Court has or hereafter shall have decided any point of law erroneously, the Chief Judge may at any time after title has or shall have become ascertained or any order has or shall have matured, on the application in writing of any person alleging that he is affected by such mistake, error, omission, or erroneous decision in point of law, make such order in the matter for the purpose of remedying the same, or the effect of the same respectively, as the nature of the case may require, and, for such purpose as aforesaid, may, if he shall page 12deem it necessary or expedient, vary the actual decision or intended decision of the Court.

Such application shall state specifically the grounds upon which it is made, and be verified by the affidavit or statutory declaration of the person applying.

If such application shall affect land, the applicant may register a certified copy or duplicate thereof:

Provided that no such order as aforesaid shall affect any alienation of land made after the title thereto has been aseertained, and before such application has been registered, unless the several parties to such alienation consent thereto in writing.

The decision of the Chief Judge on such application shall be final, unless he shall, within seven days thereafter, give leave to appeal.

No application shall be made hereunder in respect of any error or omission within the meaning of section thirteen of "The Native Land Court Acts Amendment Act, 1889," to remedy which an application has heretofore been made, or in respect of any decision on a point of law already dealt with by or now pending in the Supreme Court.
40.Amendment on report of surveyor. If it shall appear to a surveyor, when making a survey in pursuance of or for the purpose of carrying out any order, that a deviation from any line or lines laid down by the Court would for any reason be expedient, he shall give immediate notice thereof to the Registrar, and upon receipt of such notice a Judge may make such inquiries in the matter as he may think fit, and may after hearing the parties interested vary or amend the order in such manner as he may consider advisable.

Previous Section | Table of Contents | Up | Next Section