Curnin’s Index

Curnin’s Index

Curnin’s index (1877-1933)

John Curnin was the Clerk of the New Zealand legislative Council from 1861 to 1865, and was a law draftsman from 1877. He held the office, then non-statutory, of New Zealand Compiler of Statutes for some time before his death in 1904. He is famously associated with a periodical Index to the Laws of New Zealand, General, Local, and Provincial, of which he was the first author. First published in 1877,(1) it is commonly referred to as Curnin’s Index. It appears to be the first index (in New Zealand at least) that was not part of a volume collecting together a series of separate enactments. It is a predecessor to the Tables of New Zealand Acts and Ordinances and Statutory
Regulations in Force.

In his introduction to the first edition of the index, Curnin highlighted what he regarded as the unfortunate state of New Zealand legislation at that time: “like a garden deserted for years, the Statute Book is overgrown with weeds” . He advocated a full revision of the Statute Book to remove spent and redundant provisions and considered his own index as a “modest part” of the overall work needed to improve accessibility of Acts. In 1895, he assigned copyright in the index to the Crown. Curnin’s Index was then edited by the Compiler of Statutes, Earnest Yevily Redward until his sudden death in 1929, (2) and then by TDH Hall, who was appointed Clerk of the New Zealand House in 1930.

Final edition of Curnin’s Index (1933)

The final edition of Curnin’s Index was produced in 1933. this was not long after the 1931 reprint, which also had an index volume (see Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint ). The volume itself included chronological tables of Acts, but its largest component is the subject index to Public General Statutes, which numbers 257 pages. (3)

Hall, in his introduction to the 1933 edition, considered the future of the index. He lauded its usefulness, in particular noting some advantages it had over the index that was part of the 1931 reprint, while also anticipating the possibility of its demise: (4)

“The publication of the [1931] Reprint and the development of other composite
reference-books raises the question of the future of the Index. Much laborious work
and considerable expenditure is involved in the production of each edition. It is
unlikely that this can be continued unless the demand is adequate. In many quarters
concern has been expressed at the possibility of its discontinuance….

One would regret terminating a work of many years’ standing… anything, however,
which has outlived its usefulness cannot in these days survive, and the future of the
Index depends on the support accorded by the profession.”

Notes

  1. John Curnin Index to the Laws of New Zealand, General, Local, and Provincial, as existing on 1 January 1877 (New Zealand times office, Wellington, 1877).
  2. Redward held the position of New Zealand Compiler of Statutes from 1924 until his death in 1929.
  3. The volume as a whole was 458 pages.
  4. TDH Hall (ed) “Introduction” in Index to the Laws of New Zealand, General, Local, and Provincial (“Curnin’s Index”) (28 ed, GH Loney, Government Printer, Wellington, 1933) ix.

See Also

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

American Digest System, Badger’s General index, Canadian Encyclopedic Digest: First Ontario Edition, Canadian Encyclopedic Digest: First Western Edition, Henry Smythies’ Analytical Digest, Index to Subject Matter of Victorian Legislation, Index to the 1908 NZ Consolidated Statutes, Index to the Revised Statutes of Canada, Index volume of the 1931 NZ Reprint, Iowa Subject Index, List of Australian Reports, List of New Zealand Reports, Statute Book, Subject Index to South Australian Legislation, U.S. Digests, United Kingdom Index to the Statutes, United States Code Annotated.


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