Judicial Conduct Commissioner and Judicial Conduct Panel Act 2004

Complaints about Judges

12: Who may complain

You could also call this:

"Who can complain about a Judge's behaviour?"

Illustration for Judicial Conduct Commissioner and Judicial Conduct Panel Act 2004

You can make a complaint about a Judge's conduct under section 11. The Attorney-General can also refer a matter about a Judge's conduct to the Commissioner. You or the Commissioner can start a complaint about a Judge. You can complain about a Judge's conduct even if it is not a single incident. The Commissioner can look at different complaints about the same Judge. The Commissioner can do this even if they have already dealt with some of those complaints. The Commissioner has the power to treat many complaints as one under sections 14 to 19. This means they can look at all the complaints together. You can find more information about this in sections 14 to 19.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM293593.

This page was last updated on 11 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal help

11: Which complaints must be dealt with, or

"What kinds of complaints about Judges must be looked at?"

13: How to complain, or

"Making a complaint about a Judge: what you need to do"

12Who may complain

Any person may make a complaint under section 11 about the conduct of a Judge.
The Attorney-General may refer to the Commissioner any matter or matters concerning the conduct of a Judge.
The Commissioner may, on his or her own initiative, treat as a complaint any matter or matters concerning the conduct of a Judge.
The power conferred by subsection (3) includes (without limitation) the power to treat as a single complaint under sections 14 to 19 different complaints about, or a series of matters concerning the conduct of, the same Judge even if the Commissioner has previously dealt with any of those complaints or matters.