Lost Soul

What is a ‘corporation’?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:12:00 +0000

Objectives This post: Explains the terminology of corporations (e.g. 'body corporate' 'corporation sole' 'incorporation' etc.)Explains the nature of incorporation as the creation of an artificial entity, and arbitrary fiction created as such by government power.Explores how the functions of the...

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Limited Liability Trusts?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:17:00 +0000

It is commonly thought that the only vehicle providing limited liability to managers and investors is the incorporated company, an artificial person formed by the exercise of sovereign power through statute. This post explores the development under trust law and contract law of an alternative...

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Crown Jealous of Tuhoe Four

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:20:00 +0000

The Crown's case against the four remaining defendants resulting from the 2007 Urerewa raids now boils down to this: those charged were doing things that only the Crown should be doing, i.e. making ready to use armed force. The Crown claims it can legitimately ready itself for and use armed force...

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Negotiation and Customary Law

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:37:00 +0000

This post sets out the relationship between negotiation -- where the substance of a deal or resolution is up to the parties to seek agreement on -- and customary law -- where the substance of the deal or resolution is mandated by reference to the practices of others. It would seem that these forms...

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Allan Hubbard's Life and Death

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 05:46:00 +0000

Death forces us to confront the meaning of life, which is perhaps why death is so full of euphemisms and other ways of sugar-coating its sting. The death of Allan Hubbard is no different: it forces us to think of not just what he did, and the trouble he faced, but who he was. Who he was to those...

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Tripe on OBR de minimis

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:16:00 +0000

Today's news article Freezing deposits plan slammed, David Tripe criticises the RBNZ's Open Bank Resolution policy as causing 'widespread hardship'. This is fairly surprising, as the proposal incorporates a facility for a de minimis that would shelter small depositors from taking any losses. The...

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Statutory Manager's SCF claim: WIll it pay off?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:55:00 +0000

The Seventh Aorangi Statutory Manager's report states that Aorangi will be making a major claim on assets that were contributed as capital to South Canterbury Finance. I believe the principal means by which this transaction took place as the issue of $67.2m in preference shares in South Island Farm...

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Statutory managers no longer playing favourites

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 04:36:00 +0000

The seventh Aorangi Statutory Manager's report dated 29th June 2011 records a reconsideration of their previous plans to allow Mr Allan Hubbard, also in statutory management, to play favourites among his creditors. The sixth report dated 4th March 2011 presents the plan as agreed in principle and...

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Royal Justice: A Litigant's Experience

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Yesterday we resolved a dispute with a former boarder from late last year, and the experience illustrates the consequences of the dominance of royal courts on dispute resolution, and the organisation of the royal courts into a formal hierarchy applying a body of rules under the stare decisis...

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Statutory Management: Will it work for Open Bank Resolution?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 20 May 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Would statutory management of a failed bank actually work? It appears that this institution is so rarely used that we can't really be sure, unlike the institution of receivership which I suggested as being better suited to Open Bank Resolution. 'The main purpose of bankruptcy and liquidation...

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Unwinding the Helicopters NZ transaction: an analysis

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:42:00 +0000

With the news that both Helicopters NZ and Scales Corp shares have been sold, South Canterbury Finance's Feb 2010 acquisition has been fully unwound. This presents an opportunity to evaluate the amounts realised as compared to the related party transaction value, and the impact on the pre-existing...

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Unwinding 'Systemic Support' from Big Bank Ratings

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 06:25:00 +0000

I've always been perplexed at how the big credit rating agencies respond to the distress of a large bank: typically they might reduce the rating from, say, AA to A. Meanwhile, smaller, better capitalised banks with higher quality assets that are not in distress are rated lower, e.g. BBB. Now I...

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Crown's kid gloves for SCF Directors

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 03:07:00 +0000

It is now more than 6 months since South Canterbury Finance was placed into receivership. Yet, as far as we know, the Crown, despite provisioning around $600m for its losses on making good the company's debenture holders, appears to have allowed to lapse perhaps its best chance at making the...

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Open Bank Resolution: Open to Non-Government Alternatives?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:26:00 +0000

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is pushing to enhance the bank creditor recapitalisation option for dealing with bank failures under a new term: Open Bank Resolution. To make this option more palatable, and thereby more credible, registered banks will soon be required to pre-position their systems...

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The Tax Return that Toppled a King: the story of Ehud

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:59:00 +0000

A vivid story about taxpaying from the bible is in Judges 3, and it's a story of rebellion against paying taxes rather than an endorsement of the practice. At the time of Ehud the nation of Israel had no king, a time I've characterised as anarchy in my post Anarchy, Monarchy, Tyranny and Sucession...

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Religious Experience and Social Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Once upon a time I was a devout Christian, and since I've lost that bug I've found my social perspective has changed. I still keep in contact with some of my old Christian sparing partners, including Matt and Madeleine Flannagan. One of Matt's favourite moral theories these days is the Divine...

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Law without Rulers

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Rulers and law-makers purport to be men as rulers over other men. They claim the power to govern and ultimately coerce other men, ranging from prohibitions on criticising them or challenging their authority to regulating their conduct by requiring or prohibiting terms of contracts or creating...

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No Jury, no Justice?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 06:29:00 +0000

It looks that way for 18 men charged with firearms offences under dubious circumstances (on the part of the authorities as well as the men). See this from No Right Turn.

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Is there a demon in you?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:44:00 +0000

Do you become a different person behind the wheel of a car? Do you curse and swear at others, or use the one fingered salute? Perhaps you're a little more constrained, and limit yourself to whinging about the inefficiency of the traffic lights or why you need to stop at a stop sign when there's no...

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How to Book Goodwill as a Tangible Asset (SCF style)

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:09:00 +0000

It appears that the purchase of 100% of the ordinary shares of Helicopters NZ on 28th Feb 2010 by South Canterbury Finance for $90.25m may have consisted of net tangible assets of minus $51m, and goodwill of $141.25m. This is based on the following figures: Helicopters NZ fleet, as at 30 June 2010...

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"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews": Tax Protester or Rebel?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Back in May I wrote Jesus on the Law: Taxpayer or Illegal Tax Protester? and looked into Jesus teaching on taxes, and whether he was executed for teaching his followers not to pay taxes. Since then I have been trying to resolve this riddle: if Jesus was executed for tax resistance, why was the...

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Southbury Corp Accounts Perplexing

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Yesterday Southbury Corporation Limited's receiver's first report was registered with the Companies Office. Although the prospect of zero recoveries are obvious, the basis of the numbers in the company's accounts are anything but obvious. On the asset side of the balance sheet, in addition to the...

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A More Radical Anti-Legislative Law

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:04:00 +0000

In Legislation: The Anarchist Critique, I reviewed Stephan Kinsella's 1995 work Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society, which promoted the benefits of non-legislative law discovery and development. In the last few days I've been captivated by an even more radical critique of...

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Securities Commission: We were already investigating SCF's Helicopters transaction

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 03:06:00 +0000

Today I heard from the Securities Commission in response to the complaint I lodged on 17th November 2010 and was pleased to hear that the transaction had already come to their attention, and was considered as one of the major transactions of concern to them about South Canterbury Finance. The email...

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Thinking the Unthinkable in Europe

noreply@blogger.com (David Hillary) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:32:00 +0000

The idea that governments can go broke is anathema to most people, especially employees of the state and investors in government bonds. Government bonds are the benchmark 'risk-free' investments, despite being unsecured, and despite being issued by entities with the powers to screw anyone,...

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