May 2024 - The Perennial Problem of Complexity

Meet Justice Goddard

Justice Goddard graduated with a BA (Hons) in mathematics from Victoria University of Wellington in 1983, subsequently gaining a BA (Hons) in law in 1986 from Oxford University in England, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Having lectured in law at Bristol University, Justice Goddard returned to New Zealand in 1988 to practise as a lawyer at Chapman Tripp. He was a litigation partner at that firm from 1991 to 1998, before beginning practice as a barrister sole in 1999. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003. Justice Goddard was a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal from May 2011 to May 2019, and Acting President of the Tribunal from February 2018 to May 2019.

He has had extensive involvement in law reform in New Zealand and overseas, advising ministers and government agencies and representing New Zealand in bilateral and multilateral negotiations. He was the Chair of the Diplomatic Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law that adopted the Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters in July 2019. He was a Vice-President of the Diplomatic Session that adopted the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements in 2003, and a member of the drafting committee for that Treaty.

Justice Goddard has more recently been undertaking research at New York University as a Senior Global Fellow from Practice and Government in the Hauser Global Law School. He was appointed a Judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal in July 2019.

Talk Introduction

Complaints about the complexity of laws can be traced back many hundreds, if not thousands, of years. But when people complain about complex laws, what exactly is the problem, and what can we do about it?

In this lecture, Justice David Goddard explores what it means for legislation to be complex in a sense that we should be concerned about, arguing that our primary focus should be on the interfaces through which the law’s ultimate audiences interact with the legislation and become aware of its implications for them. Mostly, that interface is not the legislation itself. However for an interface to be effective to reduce complexity the legislation will, usually, need to provide for that interface. What does that mean for how we design legislation?

Drawing on his recently published book about the different ways in which laws fail to achieve their policy objectives, Justice Goddard explores how complexity contributes to such failures, and what we can do to reduce avoidable complexity. The approaches he discusses include legislating for improved interfaces (in particular, use of digital technology); paying more attention to default outcomes (and their “stickiness”); providing for simplified initial determination processes and iterative decision-making; removing “sludge” that adds to the difficulty and cost of interacting with legislation; and making greater use of adaptive legislation so that over time we can learn about, and improve, the experience of the “users” of our laws and the effectiveness of those laws.

We cannot eliminate complexity in our written laws. But with good legislative design and thoughtful use of digital technology, we can significantly reduce the burden of complexity experienced by the people to whom those laws apply.

Watch Justice Goddard's lecture here: