Pragmatism, Principle, and Power in Common Law Constitutional Systems Essays in Honour of Bruce Harris

Professor Bruce Harris has left an indelible mark on public law in New Zealand and across the common law world. In particular, his suggestion that there exists a 'third source' of executive action in addition to statutory and prerogative powers has influenced scholarship and judicial decisions in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In this Festschrift, leading commentators explore key themes from his work. These themes include the nature of executive power; issues concerning the judiciary; and the future of the unwritten constitution. Contributors include leading scholars, jurists and practitioners from both New Zealand and the United Kingdom.As courts and legislatures around the world grapple with the changing demands made of public law, this volume addresses important questions about the powers of the state, the role of judges, and Crown-Indigenous relations. This book engages with these questions through an approach that is both nuanced and pragmatic. This volume is indispensable for students, scholars and practitioners engaged in the study of common law constitutions in New Zealand and beyond.

SAM BOOKMAN is a SJD (doctoral) candidate at Harvard Law School. He completed an LLB (Hons) at the University of Auckland, and his LLM studies at Harvard Law School, where he was the recipient of the Kaufman Public Service Venture Fellowship. His work has been published in the New Zealand Law Review, the New Zealand Law Journal and New Zealand Universities Law Review. Sam worked as a judge's clerk for the Chief District Court Judge of New Zealand and is Staff Attorney at the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice. MAX HARRIS's DPhil (PhD), completed at the University of Oxford as an Examination Fellow, was on the prerogative and third source, including the work of Bruce Harris. He holds a BA/LLB(Hons.) from the University of Auckland, and BCL and MPP degrees from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. HANNA WILBERG is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. Her main research areas are administrative law and the tort liability of public authorities. Her publications include Wilberg and Elliott (eds) The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Review (Hart, 2015). She has twice won the NZ Legal Research Foundation's annual best article award, most recently for a chapter entitled ''Interpretive Presumptions Assessed against Legislators' Understanding'' in Elliott, Varuhas and Wilson-Stark (eds), The Unity of Public Law? (Hart, 2018) 193. EDWARD WILLIS specialises in public law, with particular interests in constitutional theory, administrative decision-making, regulation and competition (antitrust) law. His current research interests include theorising unwritten constitutions, the role of public law values in shaping private law and private ordering, and regulatory design and implementation.