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 — John Shaqi
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
In its essentials the argument is that in order to answer the questions
posed by paragraph (g) the Commissioner found it necessary or was
entitled to explain the process by which he reached his final
conclusions; that in doing so he was entitled to comment upon the
quality of the evidence that was given in the course of the Royal
Commission Inquiry; that the assessment of witnesses was a necessary
part of the findings he reached as to the cause of the accident; that
the assessment was not a part of the substantive findings of the
Commission; and "whether having reached his conclusion he expresses
himself vehemently or refrains from pungent comment is entirely a matter
for him". Similar submissions were made in relation to the second cause
of action and natural justice.
In certain circumstances it is obvious enough that reasons for rejecting
evidence would not merely be relevant but often a necessary part of a
decision. But considerations of that kind are far removed from the
conclusions expressed in paragraph 377. There it is said that the ten
senior members of this airline had been involved in organized deception.
"Palpably false sections of evidence ... a pre-determined plan of
deception ... an attempt to conceal a series of disastrous
administrative blunders ... an orchestrated litany of lies". These are
unlikely phrases to associate with a mere assessment of the credibility
of witnesses.
In the Courts it is constantly necessary to indicate a preference for
the evidence of one witness or to make a decision to put evidence
completely to one side; sometimes it even seems necessary to describe
evidence in terms of perjury. But in the Courts Judges always attempt to
be most circumspect in handling issues of this kind, particularly if
misconduct seems apparent which is not immediately associated with the
central issues in the case. There can be no less reason for
circumspection in the case of a Royal Commission at least where the
terms of reference do not directly give rise to inquiries into criminal
dealing. In _Re The Royal Commission on Licensing_ (1945) N.Z.L.R. 665
Sir Michael Myers C.J. dealt with the point in the following way (at p.
680):
"A Commission of Inquiry under the statute and a Royal Commission
under the Letters Patent are alike in this respect--each of them is
an inquiry, not an inquisition. By that I mean that the Commission
is not a roving Commission of a general character authorizing
investigation into any matter that the members of the Commission
may think fit to inquire into and that the ambit of the inquiry is
limited by the terms of the instrument of appointment of the
Commission."
It must always be sensible for any Commission of Inquiry or other
tribunal to keep those words in mind.
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