A number of earthquakes occurred in Christchurch and Canterbury between 2010 and 2011. These included:
This page collates legislation and judgments on the immediate and ongoing impact of these earthquakes as well as the work of the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
In response to the Canterbury earthquakes the New Zealand Government enacted a number of statutes and secondary legislation.
You will be able to locate these through the following three databases:
This list includes legislation that has been repealed or has expired. You will need to view each individual statute or legislative instrument to confirm their current status.
This list has been complied using the annual tables of legislative instruments and Acts available from the Parliamentary Counsel Office.
Statutes
Secondary Legislation
Bills
The Canterbury earthquakes led to a significant number of cases in relation to both the insurance cover of and repairs to commercial and residential property.
In 2012 the High Court responded to the large number of cases with the creation of the Earthquake list and a commitment to deal with these as quickly as resourcing within the Court permitted.
In 2019 the Canterbury Earthquakes Tribunal was established to provide speedy, flexible and cost-effective services to help resolve insurance claims between policyholders and insurers and between insured persons and the Earthquake Commission under the Earthquake Commission Act 1993.
Finding earthquake judgments
When finding a case, you will usually be given the citation. This is the formal method of referring to a reported case and will follow a citation convention. The citation includes the names of the parties before the court, the date and often a report series and page number.
To find a cited case, try the following four step process:
If you don’t have a citation, you can use the party names, court file number and/or information about your case in WestlawNZ, Lexis Advance or on NZLII.
The Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission investigated the building failures with the Christchurch CBD and made recommendations on the recovery of the central city. Further, it made recommendations on earthquake-prone buildings in Aotearoa.
The inquiry began in April 2011 and was completed in November 2012.
The final report of the Royal Commission consists was delivered in seven volumes organised in three parts:
If you cannot find what you need, please contact the Law Subject Librarians – Theresa Buller and John Arnold.
You can: