Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81New Zealand. Court of Appeal
History
Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81
New Zealand. Court of Appeal
Air New Zealand; Aircraft accidents; New Zealand. Royal Commission to Inquire into the Crash on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, of a DC10 Aircraft Operated by Air New Zealand Limited
It is true that, on purely verbal grounds, refined distinctions can be
drawn between the sections of the Report dealing with the airline's
stance at the inquiry and with costs; but we have no doubt that their
overall effect is that most readers would understand them as closely
associated. It follows, we think, that if the findings in paragraph 377
are invalid for excess of jurisdiction or breach of natural justice they
should be seen as playing a material part in the order for $150,000
costs and as requiring the Court to set aside that order. Irrespective
of the order for costs, we think that there are strong arguments to
support the view that there is jurisdiction to review the findings in
challenged paragraphs on grounds relating to jurisdiction and natural
justice. There is a good deal of support in the authorities for
excluding or strictly limiting judicial review of Commission findings
and Mr Baragwanath carefully put the arguments forward. But, as we say,
there are reasons why the Court ought not to adopt the facile approach
of saying that the function of the Commission was merely to inquire and
report and that as the Commission's findings bind no-one they can be
disregarded entirely as having no legal effect.
Scope of Royal Commission
As has been the practice in New Zealand when a Commission of Inquiry
consists only of or is chaired by a High Court Judge, the Erebus
Commission was a Royal Commission in that the warrant was expressed to
be issued under the authority of the Letters Patent of 1917 constituting
the office of Governor-General. One of the powers delegated by the
Letters Patent to the Governor-General is to "constitute and appoint, in
Our name and on Our behalf, all such ... Commissioners ... as may be
lawfully constituted or appointed by Us". The warrant was also expressed
to be issued under the authority of and subject to the provisions of the
Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908, and s. 15 of that Act extends and
applies not only to inquiries under statutory Commissions appointed by
the Governor-General or Governor-General in Council but also to
inquiries under the Letters Patent. This means inter alia that
statutory-powers of summoning witnesses and requiring the production of
documents apply, that a Judge of the High Court acting as Commissioner
has the ordinary judicial immunity, and that interested persons have
statutory rights to be heard under s. 4A, inserted by an amendment made
in 1980 shortly before the inquiry now in question began. Section 2 of
the 1908 Act empowers the Governor-General by Order-in-Council to
appoint any person to be a Commission to inquire into and report upon
any question arising out of or concerning a range of matters. The
relevant one is "(e) Any disaster or accident (whether due to natural
causes or otherwise) in which members of the public were killed or
injured ..." In giving statutory power to appoint Commissions and
listing permissible subjects the Act differs from the Evidence Acts
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