Good Afternoon Ronald van der Horst,

Thank you for your email received by the Ministry of Justice on 16 November 2015.

We are treating your correspondence as an Official Information Act request. The statutory due date for Official Information Act requests is 20 working days. You will be notified of any changes to this time-frame.

If you have any questions or queries, please don't hesitate to ask us.

Regards,

Official Correspondence Team
Ministry of Justice

-----Original Message-----
From: Ronald van der Horst [mailto:[FOI #3373 email]]
Sent: Monday, 16 November 2015 3:44 p.m.
To: correspondence, official
Subject: Official Information Act request - Definition of "Person" and "Includes"

Dear Ministry of Justice,
Within New Zealand legislation there are a number of differing, and seeming conflicting, definitions for the word "Person." I have presented two such definitions below; Interpretation Act 1999 PERSON includes a corporation sole, a body corporate, and an unincorporated body.
And,
Succession (Homicide) Act 2007
PERSON means a human being.

My first question is this;
What is the NEED for the word "Person" to have quite different meanings throughout NZ legislation?
or in another way- Why have Person meaning a "human being" in one piece of legislation and yet have an entirely different meaning in another?

Maxim;
Inclusio unius est exclusio alterius. The inclusion of one is the exclusion of another.
Person INCLUDES a corporation sole, a body corporate, and an unincorporated body.

If we are to apply the maxim; "The inclusion of one is the exclusion of another," to the above interpretation, a "corporation sole," a "body corporate," and an "unincorporated body," are the ONLY terms included in the definition, leaving all other terms- such as "Human Being" or "crown" or anything else what-so-ever, expressly excluded.

My second question is this;
What is the meaning of the word "includes" as used in the following interpretation; "Person INCLUDES a corporation sole, a body corporate, and an unincorporated body."
Is "includes" used in the restrictive sense, as in the quoted maxim, or is it used in the expansive sense?

My third question;
If "includes" is used in the expansive sense, where in New Zealand legislation will I find all those terms that are included in the definition "Person" as defined in the Interpretation Act 1999, though which are not expressly listed in the written definition? In other words, how am I to know, without ambiguity, what terms the definition includes if they are not expressly included?

If the Ministry of Justice cannot provide answers to these questions, would you please direct me to the govt dept which can provide the answers? Thank you.

Kind Regards,
Ronald van der Horst.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an OIA request done via the FYI website.

Please do not send progress updates as PDF files.

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an OIA officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Confidentiality notice:
This email may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(1) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply from your system;
(2) do not act on this email in any other way.
Thank you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hide quoted sections

Dear Mr van der Horst

 

Please find attached a response to your Official Information Act request.

 

Regards

 

 

   

[1]Description: Description: Description: Antony Paltridge
http://justice.govt.nz/courts/shared/jus...
Team Leader (Media and
External Relations) |
Communication Services
Office: +64 4 918 8800
ext 58980

[2]www.justice.govt.nz

 

References

Visible links
2. http://www.justice.govt.nz/



I am on annual leave, returning on 5 January. 

For urgent media matters (23-30 December 2015), call Matt Torbit on
021636416.

For urgent media matters (31 December 2015 to 5 January 2016), call me on
027 6890667.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Confidentiality notice:
This email may contain information that is confidential or legally
privileged. If you have received it by mistake, please:
(1) reply promptly to that effect, and remove this email and the reply
from your system;
(2) do not act on this email in any other way.
Thank you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

hide quoted sections