Events

In the MASTERCLASS™ series leading commentators who regularly contribute to the New Zealand Law Review provide updates on recent developments in their specialist fields. The last few years have seen a proliferation of decisions under the Evidence Act 2006 from the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. In this MASTERCLASS™ Associate Professor Scott Optican and Jack Oliver-Hood will focus on those judgments most significant to the application and development of evidence law in civil and criminal proceedings. They will also discuss recent recommendations for amending the Evidence Act 2006 arising out of the 2024 third (and final) review of that legislation by the New Zealand Law Commission| Te Aka Matua o te Ture.

The seminar will give an update on recent developments in the field of torts, looking in particular at a number of significant decisions in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. Topics to be covered may include, although are not limited to: disabled life, the common law and cover for accident compensation; mental injury suffered by secondary victims of accidents; liability in negligence in respect of conduct undertaken voluntarily; the ‘measured’ duty of an occupier of land in negligence and nuisance; visual intrusion as constituting a nuisance; vicarious liability and the ambit of the ‘close connection’ test; defective buildings and claims for contribution; joint tortfeasors and accessory liability.