Pukapuka Kaiwhakawā
Bench Books
Our resources
Bench books bring together up-to-date case law and statutes, legal commentary and practice directions for judges and judicial officers. They are an efficient and effective way of providing judges with legal content and contextual information relevant to the cases they commonly deal with. Te Kura Kaiwhakawā publishes 12 bench books, eight of which relate to particular courts, and four that are specialist bench books. They are:
- Senior Courts Bench Book
- District Court Bench Book
- Family Court Bench Book
- Youth Court Bench Book
- Te Puna Manawa Whenua | Māori Land Court Bench Book
- Employment Court Bench Book
- Environment Court Bench Book
- Coroners Court Bench Book.
There are also four specialist bench books:
- Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book
- Sexual Violence Trials Bench Book
- Family Violence Bench Book
- Kia Mana te Tangata | Judging in Context Handbook.
The Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book was published on the Courts of New Zealand website in November 2024—the first New Zealand bench book to be publicly available in full. The bench book provides guidance and tools for criminal trial judges, helping them prepare their directions and summing-up in criminal trials. This transparency allows the public to better understand the judicial process and the key questions that juries must address in reaching their verdicts.
Te Puna Manawa Whenua | Māori Land Court Bench Book was publicly released in May 2025 and will be followed by Kia Mana te Tangata | Judging in Context Handbook later in the year.
The publicly available bench books are available on the Courts of New Zealand website at the link below.