Pressure is mounting for the abolition of a law allowing Queenslanders who kill homosexuals to have a murder charge reduced by arguing that their victim propositioned them.

The Samoa-born and Mangere-raised MP Sam Lotu-Iiga has been thrown a $1.5 billion, 4000-staff portfolio as the new Corrections Minister.

Pioneering Youth Court judge Mick Brown has died, aged 77.

A friend of murdered woman Christine Lundy says she hopes there will be no appeal of yesterday's guilty verdict.

Three men have been charged with murder after a prison inmate they allegedly attacked died on Monday.

Justice Ministry officials wrote-off $9,587,285.55 owed by 10,306 legal aid debtors in 2014 - an average of $930 each.

An 88-year-old man called up for jury service said he would probably have slept through most of the trial.

The suspected murder of a Christchurch prisoner in his jail cell is the eighth case in two decades, but one expert fears that gang revenge could "snowball" out of control.

Susan Burdett's brother wants police to reopen the inquiry into her murder in 1992.

A Swedish man has been sentenced to one and a half years' in prison following the death of a Kiwi man at a pub brawl in Thailand in 2012.

Delays for sexual violence jury trials are increasing, with the median length for trials to conclude growing from 388 days to 459 days in the past few years.

More than 10,300 New Zealanders had their legal aid debt wiped last year - a big increase from 2013.

The country's top judges will take the rare step of hearing three serious criminal appeals amid concerns over incompetency among defence lawyers.

Emily Simpson talks to the private investigator and former police detective who spent years campaigning on behalf of Teina Pora.

The High Court has quashed a businessman's $40 fine for stopping in a loading zone to deliver files to his office.

Hanover Group's lawsuit against its former insurance broker for failing to get it full cover hasn't settled and is now expected to be argued almost 1 1/2 years after it was due.

Judge David Harvey's latest work, The Law Emprynted And Englysshed, is a gripping tale of the printing press as an agent of change in law and legal culture.

Thanks to the careful, clear journalism of the Herald's Phil Taylor, it became well known that an intellectually deficient man was serving a life sentence.

Former Act Party leader John Banks has given evidence in the trial of the man accused of throwing manure on him as he entered the High Court at Auckland last May.

The controversy over X Factor contestant Shae Brider's killer past is not the first time the show has been mired in scandal.

Convicted killer and X Factor contestant Shae Brider is not asking for mercy or pity, but says his success on the talent show was simply "tearing down another wall".

Australia's Foreign Minister is disappointed the latest appeal to save the lives two men on drugs charges in Indonesia has failed.

The Government faces a barrage of criticism whether or not it awards compensation to David Bain, so why doesn't it bite the bullet and make a decision?

A former Hawkes Bay man who admitted bashing his wife to death has left NZ, travelling on an Indian passport he got while under NZ government care.

It's "very likely" Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan will be moved from their Bali jail cells for execution this week, Bali's chief prosecutor says.

The Judicature Modernisation Bill had its second reading last week. Somehow it has not led the news, Dr Richard Cornes writes.

The Government is not 'shopping around' for a report that will allow it to dodge paying David Bain compensation, Prime Minister John Key says.

Authorities managing the bankruptcy estate of a businesswoman facing bribery charges in Hong Kong have gone to the High Court to get access to records held by an Auckland law firm.