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As New Zealand is facing its first extradition matter with China, it is becoming an increasingly cumbersome matter for the Crown. The current set of diplomatic assurances offered by the Crown in Kim lacks efficient post-sentencing monitoring mechanisms. It also lacks accountability for the Crown if a requested-person’s assurance rights have been breached. This thesis suggests that new post-sentencing monitoring mechanisms should be introduced, such as the induction of the Ombudsman to perform their duties in off-shore prison facilities. This thesis is of the view that, contrary to the general opinions of NGOs, an extradition treaty with China is necessary (and perhaps long overdue). Not only for New Zealand’s commitment against transnational crimes, but also to protect stringent monitoring mechanisms for pre-and post-sentencing while addressing any future breaches by the Requesting-State under the Vienna Convention on the Laws of Treaties, especially when there is an option of adjudication under the International Court of Justice. This thesis concludes the Courts should also be more involved in the extradition process. While balancing the need for comity and mutual respect, but allowing the Courts to be able to assess assurance-related evidence if absolutely necessary.

New Zealand's limitation legislation was overhauled with the enacting of the Limitation Act 2010. Despite this comprehensive reform, the way in which trust claims are best to be addressed appears to have been largely overlooked in the reform process. Consequently, the multitude of historic issues that have plagued statutory provisions dealing with trust claims endure in the 2010 Act, with the few changes to the structure of drafting compounding these problems. This paper explores the policy considerations at work, and, by way of example, undertakes a thorough analysis of the exception for fraudulent breaches of trust in light of these policy considerations to illustrate some of the new problems that are bound to arise in practice. Given the numerous and significant difficulties, and the substantial implications for parties seeking to rely on these provisions, this paper argues that a broad reconsideration of the way in which trust claims are dealt with in the 2010 Act is urgently needed.

This thesis examines models for the delivery of telecommunications universal services in Vietnam and New Zealand. The focus is on identifying obstacles to effective and economically efficient performance of services delivery in Vietnam, and proposing solutions for substantial improvements to legal frameworks and institutional structures. The central argument of the thesis is that the universal service scheme in Vietnam and the supporting laws and agencies responsible for implementation of the scheme need to be improved in order to contribute to the achievement of social targets. The universal service funding mechanism in Vietnam, including the allocation of industry levies and subsidies, is not linked to real costs, nor is it efficient. The laws and legal instruments governing the universal service scheme are incomplete and in parts contradictory. Moreover, the institutional structures reflect diffuse and duplicated accountability among the authorities involved, lack of transparency, and insufficient external monitoring mechanisms. Performance information systems and involvement of the public and stakeholders are also insufficient. The insufficiencies in the Vietnamese structure are illustrated in the thesis by comparing them to the key elements of a best practice model. They are also compared with elements of the New Zealand model that reflect features closer to the best practice: transparency, effective monitoring and performance accountability. These features serve as a basis for the principal proposals for improvements to the legal framework and institutional structures in Vietnam and for economically efficient and competitive funding arrangements.

This thesis argues that vindicatory damages should be available in the child welfare tort cases against public authorities. These are cases in which the plaintiffs sue public authorities either for not protecting them from harm when they were children, or where it is alleged that the authority’s employees abused the children while in its care. Vindicatory damages would be intended to mark the wrong to the plaintiff, rather than attempting to compensate the consequences. This thesis argues in support of the availability of a separate head of vindicatory damages in tort law, including negligence, and explores some of the liability issues which arise in these cases, including vicarious liability, liability for omissions and liability in negligence for the way in which a statutory power is exercised or for a breach of a statutory duty. New Zealand's accident compensation scheme is also discussed: it is argued that vindicatory damages in tort law should not be barred by the scheme.

InternetNZ has responsibility for management of the .nz domain name space. This dissertation examines InternetNZ's development and implementation of the Dispute Resolution Service Policy (the DRS). The DRS, which is being reviewed in 2010, provides a substantive legal test for unfair registration of a domain name and a dispute resolution process. This dissertation asks whether the DRS is working effectively and, if so, what this reveals about the operation of the Internet in New Zealand. The dissertation shows that the DRS is a low cost, high quality alternative to litigation and is being run in a pragmatic but principled way by InternetNZ. Implications are discussed and recommendations are made for minor improvements. The dissertation concludes with a call for more participation in, and critique of, Internet policy developments given the important human rights issues that can arise and the significance of the Internet in New Zealand today.

Patent's reputation as a constructive mechanism in the developing world was not a common notion. The prospect of utilising pharmaceutical patents to generate drug accessibility in developing countries did not seem possible. However, little credit was given to patents. Through motivating innovation, foreign investment, trade relations and industrialisation, patents can form a prowess pharmaceutical industry in the developing world. This thesis explores the possibility to increasing the availability of low cost drugs in emerging economies through patent enforcement. The analysis focuses on India as a case study. India has long been at the forefront of the developing world fight for low cost drugs markets. This stand once meant the exclusion of patent protection of pharmaceutical innovation and the formation of low cost copied generic drugs industry. However given developing countries' recent submissions to the international pressure to enforce patent protection on pharmaceutical innovations, it is time to re-examine the role patents play in developing countries, this time in the avenue of reducing drugs' pricing. India's current economy and the evolution of its pharmaceutical industry evolvement, make it as an exemplary case study to utilise patent to fulfil this end. Accordingly, the issue of widening the scope of patent protection in India to include pharmaceutical incremental innovation is examined. Notwithstanding the responsibility of India to endorse wider patent scope, legally and practically, the thesis does not ignore the moral obligation the developed world has towards India's poorer population to offer low cost drugs during the stages of its pharmaceutical industry emergence. The preliminary justification to conduct this observation is to show that patent is not only to answer the healthcare needs of the developed world population, but also the developing world. As such the thesis argues that India ought to stand at the forefront again, this time, demonstra