Royalty/Expert Profile

Expertise

I am an expert on monarchy and royalty. My particular areas of interest are the New Zealand and British monarchies. Special areas in which I have written include constitutional law, the law of succession, peerage and honours, heraldry and ceremonial.

Experience in the area

I was Chairman of Monarchy New Zealand (formerly known as the Monarchist League of New Zealand), the leading monarchist organisation in New Zealand, 2000-2010. I am also a constitutional lawyer, holding a university chair as Professor of Constitutional Law. From 2010 I have been head of the law school at Aberystwyth University, Wales. I hold the Grand Cordon, The Royal and Hashemite Order of the Pearl (Sultanate of Sulu).

Organizations

Australasian Law Teachers Association; Commonwealth Lawyers Association; Legal Research Foundation; Monarchy New Zealand Inc (Fellow); The Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society; The Royal Historical Society (Fellow); The Society of Legal Scholars; The Ecclesiastical Law Society; Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; Affirming Catholicism; The University of Auckland Legacy Society; The University of Wales Guild of Graduates; The Mission Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda; International Commission and Association on Nobility; Irish Peers’ Association; Centre for Law and Religion.

Publications

A Constitutional History of the New Zealand Monarchy (V.D.M., Saarbrücken, 2008; ISBN 978-3-639-00877-7) 332 pp; “The Royal Prerogative in the Realms” (2007) 33(4) Commonwealth Law Bulletin 611-638; “The Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland and continuity of legal authority” (2007) 29 Dublin University Law Journal 84-110; “The Revenge of the Arcane Exclusion Clause: The Civil Registration of Marriage and the Royal Family” (2005) 5(2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 179-204; “The effect of the advent of the Mixed-Member Proportional voting system upon the role of the Governor-General of New Zealand” (2002) 14(2) Bond Law Review 424-441; “The Treaty of Waitangi and the Relationship between Crown and Maori in New Zealand” (2002) 28(1) Brooklyn Journal of International Law 123-153; “The Theory of Sovereignty and the Importance of the Crown in the Realms of The Queen” (2002) 2(2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 237-255; “Black v Chrétien: Suing a Minister of the Crown for Abuse of Power, Misfeasance in Public Office and Negligence” (September 2002) 9(3) E-Law, Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law available at ; “The Evolution of the Office of Governor-General of New Zealand” (2001) 5(1&2) Mountbatten Journal of Legal Studies 51-77; “Republican Sentiment in the Realms of the Queen: The New Zealand Perspective” (2001-2002) 29(1) Manitoba Law Journal 1-28; “The control of advice to the Crown and the development of executive independence in New Zealand” (2001) 13(1) Bond Law Review 166-189; “The Law of Succession to the Crown in New Zealand” (1999) 7 Waikato Law Review 49-72; “The Law of Arms in New Zealand” (1998) 18(2) New Zealand Universities Law Review 225-256; “The British Peerage: The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage in the Overseas Realms of the Crown with Particular Reference to New Zealand” (1997) 17 (4) New Zealand Universities Law Review 379-401.

Education/Credentials

After attending grammar school in Takapuna, I took up the study of law at the University of Auckland. After graduation with an LL.B. I was admitted and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. I then undertook an LL.M. at the same university, and received the Fowlds Memorial Prize as most distinguished student in the Faculty of Law. I subsequently undertook a Ph.D. My doctoral research was under the supervision of Associate Professor Raymond Miller, and was on the topic of the “The Evolution of the New Zealand Monarchy: The Recognition of an Autochthonous Polity”.