nishatalitha

maudlinrose and I were talking last night about New Zealand having an unwritten constitution and the fact that we thought this was preferable, and depending on the government, far more flexible. The unwritten constitution includes the Magna Carta, the Human Rights Act 1993, the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, and many other documents.

And yes, with a simple majority, the Crown could repeal BORA - the Crown is bound by the Act in exactly the same way as it is by Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Act 2008, which is proposed to be repealed in the Infrastructure Bill. The Crown can legally overturn any piece of legislation that it wants if it has a majority in the House. In practical and political terms, overturning BORA would be far more challenging (they chip away at it instead).

Then we got onto the idea of all law ultimately being a construct, which is something the two of us have discussed before, and something that I quite firmly believe. Yes, it's simplified, but I think it's a simplification that works.

Law is a construct - an idea or series of ideas - that is collectively bought into and followed by a group of people, like any other rules of behaviour for groups. It's just that law has been written down so that everyone knows what the rules are and when people (or companies) break them, because you don't automatically know the unwritten rules of a group.

I get frustrated when random people during the week do not follow the keep-left rule on the main street through town. There are many office workers there, and we automatically kept left; it allows for faster flow of foot traffic. It is noticable if someone does not do so. That is a collective construct of behaviour by the public in that area.

We buy into the construct because it makes our lives easier. Sometimes law codifies constructs that are already socially in place; BORA is a good example of that. Sometimes law codifies what people want to be the social construct in place, such as with the Civil Union Act 2004.

Law being a construct is not necessarily a bad thing; it ties into the very basis of group dynamics. Just because it has been written down, does not mean it's a bad thing.

And because I want to see if we're alone in this, have a poll:

[Poll #1530335]