Privately public

This article considers the amenability of private incorporated bodies to judicial review in New Zealand, along with the related question of the relationship between common law review and the statutory recognition of judicial review in the Judicature Amendment Act 1972 (NZ). In particular, it analyses whether the Act confers jurisdiction to review such bodies, without an assessment of their publicness, as would otherwise be required under common law review. It is argued that the text, purpose, scheme, policy, and constitutional considerations weigh against the Act being jurisdiction-conferring. In other words, even if a body appears to meet the language of the Act, the courts must still assess its publicness when determining whether it is amenable to review. The Act is better understood as providing procedural support for judicial review only.