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Parliament Act 2025

Parliamentary privilege - Protected communication of proceedings in Parliament - Stay of court or tribunal proceedings

25: Application and order for stay of proceedings

You could also call this:

"Asking the court to pause a case using a special certificate"

Illustration for Parliament Act 2025

You can apply for a stay of court proceedings if the Speaker gives you a certificate under section 24. You do this by filing an application with the court or tribunal and including the Speaker's certificate. You must also serve the application to the other parties involved. If the court or tribunal is satisfied you have followed the correct process, they will refer your application to a judicial officer. The judicial officer will then immediately stay the proceedings, except for any unrelated claims. The order to stay the proceedings must be sealed and served. The stayed proceedings are considered finally determined. No fee can be charged for applying for a stay or for the order to stay the proceedings. The plaintiff or prosecutor can still choose to discontinue or withdraw the proceedings if they want to.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS804156.

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Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 2Parliamentary privilege
Protected communication of proceedings in Parliament: Stay of court or tribunal proceedings

25Application and order for stay of proceedings

  1. The person to whom the Speaker grants a certificate under section 24 may apply for a stay of the proceedings by—

  2. filing or lodging an application in or with the court or tribunal, together with the Speaker’s certificate and (if the person wishes) a draft order staying the proceedings; and
    1. serving, or taking all reasonable steps to serve, copies of the application, certificate, and any draft order on the plaintiff or prosecutor and all other parties to the proceedings.

      1. If the court’s or tribunal’s registrar is satisfied, on any evidence the registrar requires, that the person has applied for a stay of the proceedings in accordance with this section, the registrar must refer the file to the court’s or tribunal’s presiding judicial officer.

      2. On receiving the file, the presiding judicial officer must immediately stay the proceedings, except any claims or charges unrelated to the communications that the certificate covers.

      3. The order staying the proceedings must be sealed, dated, and served, and entered in the court’s or tribunal’s formal or permanent record in accordance with its practice and procedure.

      4. The stayed proceedings are taken to be finally determined.

      5. No fee may be charged for an application for a stay of proceedings or an order staying the proceedings.

      6. This section does not prevent or restrict the plaintiff or prosecutor discontinuing or withdrawing the proceedings.

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