Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand

E228574

judicial tribunal small claims court

The Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand is a small-claims civil court that provides an informal, low-cost forum for resolving minor disputes without the need for lawyers.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (8)

Label	Occurrences
Disputes Tribunal	2
Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand canonical	2
Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals	1
Disputes Tribunal referee	1
Disputes Tribunal referees	1
Disputes Tribunals system	1
New Zealand Disputes Tribunal system	1
Small Claims Tribunal of New Zealand	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2063013 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand
Context triple: [New Zealand courts, hasTribunal, Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand]

A. Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry that investigates and makes recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown.
B. Court of Appeal of New Zealand
The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is an intermediate appellate court that reviews decisions from lower courts and tribunals, sitting below the Supreme Court in the country's judicial hierarchy.
C. New Zealand courts
New Zealand courts are the judicial institutions of New Zealand responsible for interpreting and applying the law, resolving disputes, and upholding justice across the country.
D. High Court of New Zealand
The High Court of New Zealand is a superior court of general jurisdiction that handles serious civil and criminal cases and significant judicial reviews within New Zealand’s court system.
E. Supreme Court of New Zealand
The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the country’s highest appellate court, established in 2004 to replace appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand
Target entity description: The Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand is a small-claims civil court that provides an informal, low-cost forum for resolving minor disputes without the need for lawyers.

A. Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry that investigates and makes recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown.
B. Court of Appeal of New Zealand
The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is an intermediate appellate court that reviews decisions from lower courts and tribunals, sitting below the Supreme Court in the country's judicial hierarchy.
C. New Zealand courts
New Zealand courts are the judicial institutions of New Zealand responsible for interpreting and applying the law, resolving disputes, and upholding justice across the country.
D. High Court of New Zealand
The High Court of New Zealand is a superior court of general jurisdiction that handles serious civil and criminal cases and significant judicial reviews within New Zealand’s court system.
E. Supreme Court of New Zealand
The Supreme Court of New Zealand is the country’s highest appellate court, established in 2004 to replace appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	judicial tribunal ⓘ small claims court ⓘ
accessibleTo	individuals ⓘ small businesses ⓘ
allows	self-representation ⓘ
allowsRepresentationByLawyers	false ⓘ
appealProcess	limited rights of appeal to District Court of New Zealand ⓘ
canAward	monetary orders ⓘ orders for payment of money ⓘ orders for performance of contracts ⓘ orders for return of property ⓘ
cannotHear	criminal cases ⓘ employment disputes ⓘ family law disputes ⓘ
country	New Zealand ⓘ
decisionMaker	Disputes Tribunal referee ⓘ linked to: Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand referee ⓘ
emphasis	mediation-style discussion ⓘ practical solutions rather than strict legal technicalities ⓘ
establishedBy	New Zealand Parliament ⓘ
feeStructure	low filing fees ⓘ
geographicCoverage	nationwide in New Zealand ⓘ
governingBody	Ministry of Justice of New Zealand ⓘ linked to: Ministry of Justice (New Zealand)
hasPurpose	provide informal dispute resolution ⓘ provide low cost dispute resolution ⓘ provide speedy dispute resolution ⓘ resolution of minor civil disputes ⓘ
hearingFormat	face-to-face hearings ⓘ some remote or telephone hearings ⓘ
hearsCases	civil disputes ⓘ consumer disputes ⓘ disputes over debts ⓘ disputes over goods and services ⓘ disputes over property damage ⓘ small claims ⓘ
jurisdiction	New Zealand ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
legalBasis	Disputes Tribunals Act 1988 ⓘ
legalSystem	New Zealand law ⓘ
officialWebsite	https://disputestribunal.govt.nz ⓘ
partOf	New Zealand court system ⓘ
procedure	informal ⓘ inquisitorial ⓘ
replaced	Small Claims Tribunal of New Zealand ⓘ linked to: Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand
replacedInYear	1989 ⓘ
supervisedBy	Principal Disputes Referee ⓘ
typeOfLaw	civil law ⓘ
usesLawyers	not usually ⓘ
website	https://disputestribunal.govt.nz ⓘ
yearEstablished	1989 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited