A public information release from the Justice department this week advised
that the Niue High Court sitting which normally takes place in November will no
longer be convened and has now been postponed.
According to the statement, this sitting is one where a Judge based in NZ
will travel to Niue to preside over matters listed for hearing in the Civil,
Criminal and Land divisions of the Niue High Court and in the Coroner’s Court.
However, the travel restrictions and the quarantine requirements for the
prevention of COVID 19 has affected these arrangements. According to the press
statement “…it is no feasible for the Judge to travel from NZ to Niue for the
court in November 2020 under the quarantine measures in place.”
The Department Justice and the Chief Justice of the Niue High Court are
working to put in place some measures to ensure that the work of the High Court
can be progressed in the best possible way at this time.
The NZ based judges normally visit for the High Court sittings in March and November each year. There was no indication from the information release as to when the NZ based judge will be able to convene the next sitting of the High Court.