Some bars' and restaurants' "happy hour" promotions will be outlawed under alcohol reforms which come into force next month.

He may have been wearing shorts, a green prison-issue T-shirt and black jandals - but Ewen Macdonald was serious about yesterday's bid for freedom.

Long-service leave for District Court judges has increased from 65 days every five years to 100 days, the Herald can reveal.

Carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst has complained to the Auditor-General that a $960,000 contract was not put out to tender.

A Bay of Plenty lawyer allegedly acted for a vulnerable teenage client the day after he had sex with her, a tribunal has been told.

The High Court has given ANZ/ National Bank customers until December 13 to sign up to a lawsuit against the bank over fees, according to a group taking the case.

Auckland barrister Jeremy Bioletti says he has permission to run a business and can continue to practise law while bankrupt.

The brother of a woman raped and murdered in 1992 said he is disappointed the man jailed for his sister's murder was denied parole.

Prime Minister John Key today unveiled how the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct to be constructed in central Christchurch will look.

The future of the crucial International Criminal Court is in jeopardy because of bitter opposition from leaders of some key nations in Africa.

Former finance company director Ann Butler - who was convicted this year of misleading investors - has regained control of a wine company after it emerged from receivership.

ANZ is weighing up whether to launch action in Korea to try to get $8 million from property investor Danny Chung and his wife.

ANZ Bank has defended its penalty fees as fair, saying they reflect extra services provided to customers whose accounts require attention over and above their banking contract.

The Parole Board has reserved its decision over whether Teina Pora will be granted parole.

Teina Pora, the man convicted of Susan Burdett's 1992 murder has another parole hearing today, amid calls for a review of his case.

Mark Lundy is set to have the quashing of his murder convictions tested after the Justice Minister gave the strongest indication yet the case will be retried.

Mark Lundy plans to visit the graves of his murdered wife and daughter - as well as of his father, who died while he was in jail, says a family spokesman.

The criminal justice system is based on the belief that the State punishes only those whose guilt has been proven "beyond reasonable doubt".

New Zealand may only be months away from not having enough judges to hear cases.

Angry scenes erupted in court yesterday after a murderer who slashed a young mother's throat was told he could be out of jail in 10 years.

Jeremy Bioletti, the defence lawyer who represented bankrupted barrister Barry Hart, is fighting his own bankruptcy order.

Approval for smoking in SkyCity's high-roller lounge may be stubbed out after it was challenged in the High Court.

A decade after he recommended New Zealand set up an independent commission to investigate claims of miscarriages of justice, Sir Thomas Thorp says the case is even stronger.

Justice Minister Judith Collins is putting judges on notice that painfully slow delivery of reserve judgments will no longer be acceptable.

Two designs of jeans made by rival clothing companies are so similar that one must have been copied from the other, a court was told.

Australians yesterday began hearing details of how some of their most trusted organisations allowed child abuse to continue.

NZ could follow Britain's lead and appoint a Victims' Commissioner, but the Justice Minister said the move would have to make a real difference.

Shame' over colonial history is seeing valuable threads of the nation's story left to crumble into ruin.

Officers in an elite unit set up to target the biggest criminal threats to NZ fear internal reprisals if they tell police bosses of "inappropriate conduct".