Welcome to the University of Auckland

I am pleased, as the Associate Dean (Postgraduate) at the University of Auckland Law School, to welcome you to the new issue of the New Zealand Postgraduate Law e-Journal.

One of the most significant objectives of university-based legal research, especially at postgraduate level, is that it should not only be publishable, but also be published. This journal aims to facilitate the achievement of that objective. The journal is run by the Law School’s own postgraduate students. That they have been able to take on such a project is a measure of the strength and vitality of our postgraduate student community. The Law School is proud of their initiative and abilities.

In the past, most of the articles and other pieces published in the Journal have been the work of the Law School’s own postgraduate students. The Journal’s aim, however, is to foster postgraduate research in law generally. It accordingly welcomes submissions from postgraduate students at any of New Zealand’s law schools. Indeed, the Journal welcomes submissions from students undertaking postgraduate research in disciplines other than law, too, if the subject-matter of their research is the law. I hope you will enjoy this issue and that you will find it useful and stimulating.

Professor Paul Myburgh, Associate Dean (Postgraduate), The University of Auckland Faculty of Law

It is with great pleasure that we present the fourth issue of the New Zealand Postgraduate Law eJournal. We are about to enter the third year of the journal's existence and feel very gratified at the response so far from contributors and readers alike. Special mention is due to Saul Holt, whose article on appellate sentencing in the last issue was cited in a recent High Court judgment, indicating that things have certainly changed since the days when judges only cited the printed works of deceased authors in the legal Pantheon!

This edition contains articles that we hope our readership will find both stimulating and informative, representing as they do some of the best work at postgraduate level on the subject of the law. Included in this issue are pieces on topics on diverse fields of the law. We welcome any feedback on the contents of this issue.

Special thanks are, as ever, extended to our editors who have devoted a great deal of effort into giving this issue wings. And finally, we offer our warm thanks to the journal’s authors for their patience and endeavour. We wish you all the best in your future writing careers.

Dominic Dagbanja, NZPGLeJournal Editor-in-Chief