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How Fettered Is An Unfettered Discretion?

dc.contributor.authorDouglas, Jack
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-17T03:40:32Z
dc.date.available2023-05-17T03:40:32Z
dc.date.copyright2022
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractCompulsory acquisition is a process whereby the Crown, or local government, can take land for public works or other specified purposes. Section 186 of the Resource Management Act 1991 grants the Minister for Land Information the discretion to allow privately owned utilities to exercise powers of compulsory acquisition. This paper argues that the Minister for Land’s discretion under s186 is not sufficiently constrained. Private property rights must be more of a fetter on the Minister’s decision. This paper analyses the legal jurisprudence which informed the early takings legislation and explains its impact on judicial decisions in modern times. Despite an extensive common law history of protecting property rights stemming from our legal ancestors, early takings legislation favoured economic progression. The ability to compulsorily acquire land was a necessary tool in this sense, and this mindset still hampers the current legislation. An analysis of Minister for Land Information v Dromgool highlights the little fetters existing on the Minister’s decision-making ability under s186 of the RMA and its perilous consequences for private property rights. Compulsory acquisition is asensitive topic. The coercive power of the Crown to take land can result in the sale of a principal place of residence with no acknowledgment of the involuntary nature of that sale. In order to acknowledge the violation of property rights inherent in compulsory acquisition, this paper argues that changes beyond increasing monetary compensation are necessary. The legislature and judiciary alike must identify a mechanism to recognise and compensate landowners for involuntarily selling their land.en_NZ
dc.formatpdfen_NZ
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir.wgtn.ac.nz/handle/123456789/30734
dc.languageen_NZ
dc.language.isoen_NZ
dc.publisherTe Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellingtonen_NZ
dc.subjectCompulsory acquisitionen_NZ
dc.subjectproperty rightsen_NZ
dc.subjectfetteren_NZ
dc.subjectMinister for Land Information v Dromgoolen_NZ
dc.subject.courseLAWS489en_NZ
dc.titleHow Fettered Is An Unfettered Discretion?en_NZ
dc.typeTexten_NZ
thesis.degree.disciplineLawen_NZ
thesis.degree.grantorTe Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellingtonen_NZ
thesis.degree.nameBachelor of Lawsen_NZ
vuwschema.contributor.schoolSchool of Lawen_NZ
vuwschema.contributor.unitVictoria Law Schoolen_NZ
vuwschema.contributor.unitFaculty of Law / Te Kauhanganui Tātai Tureen_NZ
vuwschema.subject.anzsrcforV2489999 Other law and legal studies not elsewhere classifieden_NZ
vuwschema.type.vuwBachelors Research Paper or Projecten_NZ

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