Abstract:
The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 came into force just over twenty years ago, on 25 September 1990. The advent of this milestone makes it an opportune moment to reflect on the impact of the Bill of Rights on the judicial treatment of the right to protest. This article describes the relevant case law on the right to protest both before and after the Bill of Rights, and then discusses the impact of the Bill of Rights from three perspectives: the increased engagement with comparative law from non-traditional sources, judicial methodology, and outcomes. The article concludes that the Bill of Rights has changed how courts look at protest cases to a discernible if modest degree.