Tid-bit: Magna what?

> Gregory v Gollan [2009] NZSC 29 An interesting tid-bit embedded in a decision on a leave application issued by the Supreme Court today:

Mr Henry, for the applicant, has asserted that there is a constitutional dimension to the case. He argues that Magna Carta 1297 (Imp) gives his client a right to a jury trial. But, even if it were accepted that c29 of Magna Carta extended to jury trials in civil proceedings, the matter is now covered by New Zealand legislation which makes it clear that proceedings are to be tried by Judge alone unless the Court exercises its discretion to order trial by jury. Any operation Magna Carta may once have had in relation to civil proceedings has now been plainly displaced by s 19A [of the Judicature Act 1908]. [FN: See David Clark, The Icon of Liberty: The Status and Role of Magna Carta in Australian and New Zealand Law (2000) 24 Melb. U.L. Rev 866 at p 883-884.]