The Privy Council last night heard that the Crown accepts Teina Pora suffers Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder - but it disputes it would've led to a different verdict.

An error in not calling evidence regarding erectile dysfunction of a serial rapist led Teina Pora to be wrongly convicted of a rape and murder, Privy Council hears.

Bob Jones writes: Given the constant foreign news ghastliness, particularly mad Muslim vileness, I sometimes think blissful ignorance may have merit.

A Whanganui woman who took two and a half years to complete just one hour of a 200-hour community work sentence has been hauled back before a court.

Former Act MP and Auckland Mayor John Banks hopes he will be vindicated following a legal appeal against his sentence and conviction for filing a false electoral return.

Mercy is not what the innocent seek. It's justice, writes Brian Rudman. An independent body, sifting all the facts in a dispassionate way, is the best way to get to the truth.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal decided the act meant something more: that women have the right to be paid the same as men doing a different job if the work is comparable.

The fate of three businessmen accused of masterminding the "biggest fraud in New Zealand's history" will be determined tomorrow morning.

The police officer accused of planting a cartridge case in the Crewe double-murder inquiry went to his grave denying he fitted up Arthur Allan Thomas.

A victim of a violent assault is fighting for justice after his alleged attacker's case was thrown out by a judge who thought it was "unfair" to try him because of a delay.

Deborah Hart writes: Family law arbitration, the latest conflict-resolution tool for people seeking resolutions for difficult domestic circumstances, marks another milestone.

A High Court lawsuit involving the botched sale of a $6 million luxury Auckland property, an allegedly negligent real estate agency and a Takapuna law firm is set to begin today.

A move away from the adversarial court system for sexual and domestic violence may be back on the agenda after the resignation of former Justice Minister Judith Collins, a senior National MP says.

In the latest Herald policy series, we put the election spotlight on the parties' plans for law and order.

Justice Minister Judith Collins has approved the extradition of a former Catholic brother to Australia to face child-sex charges.

Police have said sorry for the raids on the Tuhoe people in 2007 but there will be no ministerial apology for what happened.

The Cornwall Park Trust Board is to meet residents worried about what revisions to its 'modern' lease will mean to their rent prices.

I do not expect Stephen Dudley's parents to be rational about wanting the person they think caused their son's death to be punished.

South Canterbury Finance boss Allan Hubbard "had little interest" in meeting accounting or legal requirements, and colleagues went along with fraud, a court hears.

An accused child rapist is one of a growing number of people able to flee criminal charges after cutting off their electronic bracelets.

A woman who gave her son a lethal dose of her methadone to cure a sore stomach been jailed for four years and 11 months.

Rochelle Crewe says she's pleased her aunt and grandparents have been cleared over the deaths of her parents.

Conservation Minister Nick Smith says he has "heeded the Prime Minister's advice" and backed down on a legal threat against an environmental advocate.

Prime Minister John Key says Conservation Minister Nick Smith would be "silly" to take legal action against an environmental advocate who accused him of political interference.