20 New Zealand Law

Subject(s):

Anti-suit injunctions

This concluding chapter focuses on New Zealand law. New Zealand law on anti-suit injunctions, as it has so far developed, is much the same as English law and has generally followed the English decisions, while also paying particular regard to the judgments of the Privy Council on the subject. The New Zealand Courts have confirmed that they have the power to grant anti-suit injunctions without addressing the source of the power. In New Zealand, injunctions are not granted under an express statutory power specifically conferring or confirming the power to grant injunctions, in contrast to section 37(1) of the English Senior Courts Act 1981. Instead, sections IV, V and XVI of the Supreme Court Act 1860 conferred on the New Zealand High Court all the jurisdiction possessed by the superior courts of England in 1860. That jurisdiction included the power to grant injunctions, including anti-suit injunctions to restrain domestic or foreign proceedings.