Māori Status in New Zealand Law · Enforcement Ledger · Part 50 · Control mechanism

How do you challenge a public official who exceeds statutory power?

Judicial review is the central public-law control mechanism. The Judicial Review Procedure Act expressly covers powers to compel conduct and powers that would otherwise breach legal rights, allowing courts to review unlawful, unreasonable or procedurally defective exercises of statutory power.

The Enforcement Ledger ends with the control mechanism that applies across almost every field above.

Section 5 of the Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016 defines statutory power broadly. It includes a power to require a person to do or refrain from doing something they would not otherwise be legally required to do, and a power to do something that would otherwise breach that person's legal rights.

This definition captures the core enforcement question.Whenever government says “you must”, the legal audit is: what statutory power converts that conduct from optional into compulsory?

The Act provides procedure for reviewing the exercise, refusal to exercise, proposed exercise or purported exercise of statutory power. The High Court may grant relief and can direct a decision-maker to reconsider a matter.

What can be challengedExercise, non-exercise, proposed or purported exercise of statutory power.

Primary instrumentJudicial Review Procedure Act 2016, alongside common-law judicial review principles.

Typical groundsLack of authority, wrong legal test, irrelevant/relevant considerations, procedural unfairness, improper purpose, irrationality/unreasonableness and rights-consistency issues depending on context.

Related rights frameworkNew Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 can constrain interpretation and executive action, though it does not generally allow courts to strike down an Act of Parliament.

The final enforcement rule is simple: coercive public power must be traceable. If the legal source, trigger or procedure cannot be established, the purported exercise of power is open to challenge.

Primary review statuteJudicial Review Procedure Act 2016, especially s 5.

Rights statuteNew Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

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