Authors:  Stephen Penk, Mary-Rose Russell, Jayden Houghton (Rereahu Maniapoto)

The foundation of legal study in Aotearoa New Zealand is an understanding of our legal systems and sources of law, and legal method – how the law is made and applied.  Aotearoa New Zealand Law: Foundations and Method (3rd edition) is a resource that will prepare students in their first year of law with the skills and understanding to guide them through legal study and into a successful career.

The book is separated into 8 parts and contains 27 chapters which introduce and develop the concepts covered in first-year courses on the legal system, including legal foundations and legal method. The legal foundations topics include introductions to: tikanga Māori and its relationship with state law; intersections between the common and civil law systems, public and private law, and international law; the constitution and our structure of government; and jurisprudence and legal theory. The legal method topics include: case law, judicial reasoning and the doctrine of precedent; statute law and statutory interpretation; the interaction between case law and statute law; and legal language and writing.

The new edition of Aotearoa New Zealand Law: Foundations and Method (formerly published as New Zealand Law: Foundations and Method) has been updated to expand on tikanga Māori in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand’s law degree curriculum, with new contemporary topics, examples and exercises throughout the book.