Essays on Constitutional Law

This is a collection of refereed journal articles on various topics in the field of constitutional law. The papers contained in this collection present the fruits of research in the field of constitutional law, with an emphasis upon the Crown. The principal line of papers presented consider the Crown as a theoretical foundation for government. The starting point for this is an exploration of the vexed question of the usurpation of government. The papers then turn to a more detailed examination of the form of the Crown. The first is a look at the law regulating the succession to the Crown. The focus of the papers then turns from the position of the Crown to its powers. In particular, the focus of a number of papers is on the royal prerogative of honours. The papers then begin a review of the contemporary constitutional position of selected elements of the royal prerogative of honour and of dignities law. The first paper is on the peerage. The next papers discuss the on-going debate in heraldic circles in the Commonwealth as to the respective heraldic jurisdictions. This relies heavily upon arguments based on the way in which New Zealand acquired its legal system from the United Kingdom. The collection concludes with a series of papers on broader topics, including public policy in relation to succession, the notaries profession, and copyright in legislation. The aim of the collection is to bring together a number of papers dealing with aspects, broad and narrow, of the contemporary constitution.