A General Public Law Duty to Provide Reasons: Why New Zealand Should Follow the Irish Supreme Court

This article draws on a recent judgment of the Irish Supreme Court, Mallak v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2012] IESC 59, to argue that New Zealand courts should recognise a general common law duty on public decision-makers to provide reasons in support of their decisions to affected parties, typically upon request. Following a discussion of Mallak and the current New Zealand position on the extent of a common law obligation to provide reasons, the article applies the reasons given in Mallak to demonstrate that it is now appropriate for the New Zealand common law to recognise this obligation: recognition of this obligation is supported by the obligations of natural justice and fairness, there is a legal trend in support of this duty in New Zealand and this obligation, which will operate as a rebuttable presumption, can be applied clearly and flexibly by decision-makers and courts.