Professor Paul Rishworth QC

Paul Rishworth is Senior Crown Counsel in Crown Law, the office of the Solicitor-General in Wellington, New Zealand, and Professor Law at The University of Auckland. His research interests and practice areas are constitutional and human rights law. He has written extensively on human rights law in New Zealand.

 
presents

Courts or Parliament? The anatomy of public interest litigation over death and dying

How do we resolve the moral controversies surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide? Are they the province of elected representatives voting after careful deliberation? Or of judges deploying human rights principles to temper the tyranny of majority rule? What, exactly, are the rights involved in these cases? And what are the countervailing interests? Which forum – courts or parliaments – is best suited to balance them?

The seminar will explore these issues as they have unfolded in the United States (especially Montana and New Mexico), Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australasia. It explores them through the anatomy of a typical case from inception to hearing – the assembly of expert evidence, crafting the legal arguments, reckoning with interest group intervenors, using cases from other jurisdictions, the role of media and blogging, the judicial remedies available, and (standing back) the overall efficacy of litigation in fostering debate and law reform.