Method
Separate the
four questions.
Do not collapse authority, obligation, rights and remedies into one argument.
Authority: what legal power is being exercised?
Obligation: what does that power lawfully require you to do or refrain from doing?
Rights: what protections continue to apply while the power is exercised?
Options: what can you ask, decline, preserve, challenge or apply for — now or afterwards?
Options standard
What can I
do next?
Every discussion in this series must answer the practical question, not just state the rule.
Before compliance: what can you ask, clarify, refuse to consent to, or require the power-holder to identify?
If liberty is restricted: what reason must be given, when can you ask for a lawyer, what can you decline to say, and how can the legality of detention be challenged?
If force is used: what force is legally authorised, what limits apply, and when does self-defence become a separate legal question?
After the event: what evidence should be preserved, what records can be sought, and what complaint, review or court remedy may be available?
Peaceful protest does not make every arrest unlawful. An arrest does not make every use of force lawful. Disputing authority is not the same thing as obstructing it, and self-defence against unlawful or excessive physical force is not the same legal question as resisting a lawful arrest.
Series roadmap
One encounter.
More than one option.
Request or legal requirement? Start by identifying the statutory source, scope and trigger.
Read nowDiscussion 02 · PublishedAm I required to answer?Questions, information demands, silence, identification requirements and the difference between cooperation and legal compulsion.
Read nowDiscussion 03 · PublishedAm I detained, or am I free to leave?How to identify when an encounter has crossed from conversation into a restriction on liberty — and what options activate immediately.
Read nowDiscussion 04 · PublishedConsent is not the same as statutory authority.How consent, refusal of consent and compulsory powers interact — particularly during searches — and what options preserve your position.
Read nowDiscussion 05 · PublishedWhat must the power-holder tell you?Identity, reasons, warrants, enactments, notices and inventories — and what options exist when required information is withheld.
Read nowDiscussion 06 · PublishedWhat changes when you are peacefully protesting?Peaceful assembly, public-way rules, warnings, arrest powers and the options available when a hīkoi or march is interrupted.
Read nowDiscussion 07 · PublishedWhat if force becomes excessive?Section 39 arrest-force limits, section 48 self-defence, the “execution of duty” requirement in obstruction law, and the difference between disputing authority, unlawful obstruction and reasonable defensive force.
Read nowDiscussion 08 · PublishedPreserve the record.What to record, what to write down, what documents matter and why contemporaneous evidence can change what is possible later.
Read nowDiscussion 09 · PublishedChallenge the decision, not the badge.Natural justice, complaints, disclosure, judicial review and other routes for testing whether statutory power was lawfully exercised.
Read nowDiscussion 10 · PublishedWhat can a court actually do?Habeas corpus, declarations, review remedies, reconsideration and the practical difference between proving a wrong and obtaining a remedy.
Read nowEvidence standard
No assumptions.
Find the instrument.
Every discussion will distinguish the law from the claim being made about the law.
Primary legislation and official sources come first. The exact statutory power matters. So do exceptions, thresholds, procedural requirements and later amendments. Where the answer depends on facts, the series will say so.
This series provides general legal information, not individual legal advice. A particular encounter can turn on facts, the legislation being used and the exact words or conduct involved.