Māori Law Review

David Randal and Julia White from Buddle Findlay’s environment and Māori law team review natural resource management law affecting Māori in 2013. read more

Tai Ahu examines the first Act of Parliament enacted entirely in Māori alongside English and asks whether New Zealand has an appropriate legal framework for bilingual statutes. read more

Akura Lands Trust v Te Whata - Akura 1C 3B 2

Māori Land Court (2014) 29 Tākitimu MB 199 (29 TKT 199)

5 March 2014

Preliminary determination of ownership of a dwelling on Trust property. Succession and other matters were left to be determined at a later date.

Download Akura Lands Trust v Te Whata - Akura 1C 3B 2 here (132 KB PDF). read more

MacFarlane v Trustees of the K & T MacFarlane Whānau Trust

Māori Land Court [2014] Chief Judge's MB 127 (2014 CJ 127)

25 March 2014

Successful application for exercise of Chief Judge's powers to amend succession orders that erroneously excluded the applicant's father from succession to his mother's interests.

Download MacFarlane v Trustees of the K & T MacFarlane Whānau Trust here (162 KB PDF). read more

Moses - Hopuruahine East & 12 other blocks

Māori Land Court (2014) 37 Tairāwhiti MB 238 (37 TRW 238)

6 March 2014

The Deputy Chief Judge accepted the resignation of the Tūhoe Waikaremoana Trust Board from the position of responsible trustee for 13 Māori reservations surrounding Lake Waikaremoana. 10 nominees were appointed as interim trustees. The owners were directed to have a final meeting and apply to the Court after one year to seek reconfirmation of the trustees' positions or to seek appointment of new trustees.

Download Moses - Hopuruahine East & 12 other blocks here (131 KB PDF). read more

Williams – Harataunga West 2B2B2B2

Māori Land Court (2014) 74 Waikato Maniapoto MB 6 (74 WMN 6)

17 March 2014

The applicants sought leave to appeal a provisional determination of the Court appointing a trustee of the Harataunga West 2B2B2B2 Trust. The Court considered it was in the interests of justice to grant leave for the appeal to be brought.

Download Williams – Harataunga West 2B2B2B2 (141 KB PDF) here. read more

Dobson - Ahipara 2B47

Māori Land Court (2014) 74 Taitokerau MB 139 (74 TTK 139)

19 March 2014

The Māori Land Court determined that a change of status from Māori freehold land to General land was unnecessary because that change had already occurred when the land in question was transferred to non-Māori purchasers in 1983, pursuant to the Māori Affairs Act 1953.

Download Dobson - Ahipara 2B47 (110 KB PDF) here.

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Stebbing - Tauhara Middle 4A 2B 2C (Opepe Farm Trust)

Māori Land Court (2014) 92 Waiariki MB 218 (92 WAR 218)

17 March 2014

Successful application for the reappointment of three trustees, the appointment of an additional trustee, and an increase in the trustees' fees.

Download Stebbing - Tauhara Middle 4A 2B 2C (Opepe Farm Trust) here  (150 KB PDF). read more

Green - Trustees of Te Kou Tiaki and Tangi Ataahua Green Whānau Trust

Māori Land Court (2014) 92 Waiariki MB 183 (92 WAR 183)

17 March 2014

Applications for a review and partial termination of trust. Application for partial termination not granted where it would not be in the interests of the applicant or the other owners to allow it.

Download Green - Trustees of Te Kou Tiaki and Tangi Ataahua Green Whānau Trust (222 KB PDF) here. read more

Karaitiana v Carroll - Matahiwi No 4B, Waipuka 2R Section 3 and Waipuka 3A3A

Māori Land Court (2014) 29 Tākitimu MB 214 (29 TKT 214)

7 March 2014

Application to create ahu whenua trust dismissed due to opposition by a significant majority of owners.

Download Karaitiana v Carroll - Matahiwi No 4B, Waipuka 2R Section 3 and Waipuka 3A3A here (220 KB PDF). read more

Ngamoki-Cameron v Koopu - The Proprietors of Mangaroa & Other Blocks Incorporated

Māori Land Court (2014) 91 Waiariki MB 279 (91 WAR 279)

12 March 2014

The steps taken to resign from the Committee of Management were adequate to effect a resignation which was unilateral and did not require acceptance by the Committee. Withdrawal of resignation determined to require the consent of the Committee.

Download Ngamoki-Cameron v Koopu - The Proprietors of Mangaroa & Other Blocks Incorporated  here (227 KB PDF). read more

Taniora - Te Koutu Mourea Māori Reservation

Māori Land Court (2014) 91 Waiariki MB 173 (91 WAR 173)

6 March 2014

The applicants sought to have one acre excluded from Te Koutu Mourea Māori Reservation and to have it partitioned and vested in Erana Waiomio. While there was support for the exclusion, there was insufficient support for the partition. There was also a lack of evidence to demonstrate that the partition would facilitate better utilisation and development of the land.

Download Taniora - Te Koutu Mourea Māori Reservation here (154 KB PDF). read more

Tahata v Tahata - Ngāwhakatutu A1A Incorporation

Māori Land Court (2014) 37 Tairāwhiti MB 217 (37 TRW 217)

5 March 2014

On an application to remove three persons on the Committee of Management, the Deputy Chief Judge declined to remove Mr Ben Tahata. However, an election held in 2012 was declared to be invalid and the positions on the Committee of Management of the two successful candidates were revoked.

Download Tahata v Tahata - Ngāwhakatutu A1A Incorporation here (259 KB PDF). read more

Overview

He Papakupu Reo Ture: A Dictionary of Māori Legal Terms

Māmari Stephens and Mary Boyce

LexisNexis New Zealand 2013 (ISBN: 9781927183748)

Reviewed by Pānia Papa - Ngāti Korokī-Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta. read more

Nicholas – Estate of Robert Rawhiti Rangitakaiwaho Nicholas

Māori Land Court (2014) 316 Aotea MB 187 (316 AOT 187)

7 March 2014

Dispute as to the appropriate recipient of the deceased’s shares in the Wellington Tenths Trust. As there was no independent objective evidence of what the deceased intended or wanted, the Court proposed the establishment of the Robert Nicholas whānau trust. The parties were invited to file submissions on the proposal.

Download Nicholas – Estate of Robert Rawhiti Rangitakaiwaho Nicholas (111 KB PDF) here. read more

Tito – Te Anga Whanga

(2014) 71 Taitokerau MB 94 (71 TTK 94)

3 February 2014

Application for succession. The applicant was entitled to succeed to those interests that he could demonstrate a hapū connection to under s 108(2)(c) and (d) of the Act.

Download Tito – Te Anga Whanga (162 KB PDF) here. read more

Subritzky – Mandoline Murray Whānau Trust

Māori Land Court (2014) 71 Taitokerau MB 101 (71 TTK 101)

3 February 2014

Application for costs following the withdrawal of an application to terminate a whānau trust. Although the trustees incurred costs in responding to the application, in the circumstances of the case an order for costs would be inappropriate.

Download Subritzky – Mandoline Murray Whānau Trust (79 KB PDF) here. read more

In February 2014 Jon Altman from the Australian National University, Canberra[ref]Jon Altman is a research professor in economics/anthropology at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University, where he was inaugural director 1990–2010. He would like to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of Francis Markham over the last year, dependent on his GIS mapping skills, and Craig Linkhorn for comments on this paper, based on a seminar delivered in the Māori Law Review’s Indigenous Law Speaker Series, at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington on 13 February 2014.  An earlier version of the paper was delivered as a keynote address to The Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics annual conference ‘Opportunities for the Critical Decade’ at the ANU in Canberra in November 2013.[/ref] delivered a seminar for the Māori Law Review’s Indigenous Law Speaker Series. Using a series of maps, Professor Altman's paper from that seminar examines a land rights revolution in Australia over the past 40 years. He explains that after two centuries of assertion that indigenous peoples did not own the continent in any proprietorial sense, the Mabo High Court judgment in 1992 revolutionised Australia’s land tenure. A combination of native title and earlier statutory land rights regimes have seen a rapidly growing proportion of the continent re-vested in indigenous land owners. Most of this estate is in remote and very remote Australia and it has two critical features, high conservation value because of remoteness; and high mineral prospectivity.

Download The political ecology and political economy of the Indigenous land titling ‘revolution’ in Australia (1.9 MB PDF).

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High Court of Australia

Criminal law, sentencing and ethnicity - Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37

Court of Appeal

Criminal law, sentencing and ethnicity - Mika v R [2013] NZCA 648

Criminal law, application of tikanga Māori - Mason v R [2013] NZCA 310

Māori Appellate Court

Costs - award made akin to civil litigation - Nicholls v Trustees of WT Nicholls Trust (2014) Māori Appellate Court MB 2

Māori Land Court

Status of land - status will not be changed on the basis of mere possibilities - Hohaia - Ahipara 73B2A (2014) 72 Taitokerau MB 50

Costs - award made akin to civil litigation - Nicholls v Trustees of WT Nicholls Trust (2014) Māori Appellate Court MB 2

Trusts – removal of trustees, redefinition of class of beneficiaries – Kapa - Te Whakahau Hare and Ruka Paati (2014) 72 Taitokerau MB 54

Trusts – constitution of whānau trust – Aupouri - Mabel Aupouri Whānau Trust (2014) 37 Tairāwhiti MB 93

Waitangi Tribunal

Urgent inquiry into reform of the Māori Community Development Act 1962

Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2013

Turbulent times: speculations about how the Whanganui River's position as a legal entity will be implemented and how it may erode the New Zealand legal landscape - Laura Hardcastle

Indigenous Law Speaker Series 2014

The political ecology and political economy of the Indigenous land titling ‘revolution’ in Australia - Professor Jon Altman from the Australian National University delivered the first of our 2014 lunchtime seminars on 13 February 2014 at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington.

Print version

Download the Māori Law Review February 2014 (552 KB PDF).

Bugmy v The Queen

High Court of Australia [2013] HCA 37

2 October 2013

Max Harris considers the judgment of the High Court of Australia in Bugmy v The Queen where the Court considered – amongst other things – the argument that Aboriginal Australian offenders should be entitled to a sentencing discount on the basis of their indigenous background.

Download Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37 here.

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Mason v R

Court of Appeal [2013] NZCA 310

17 July 2013

Mr Mason appealed his conviction for murder and attempted murder on the basis that he should have been dealt with in accordance with tikanga Māori. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal.

Download Mason v R [2013] NZCA 310 here (303 KB PDF). read more

Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie student essay competition 2013

Turbulent times: speculations about how the Whanganui River's position as a legal entity will be implemented and how it may erode the New Zealand legal landscape

The Māori Law Review is pleased to publish Laura Hardcastle's prize winning essay on recognising the Whanganui River as a legal entity. read more

Nicholls v Trustees of WT Nicholls Trust

Māori Appellate Court (2014) Māori Appellate Court MB 2 (2014 APPEAL 2)

4 February 2014

The Māori Land Court made orders against the appellant and these orders were unsuccessfully appealed to the Māori Appellate Court. Following dismissal of the appeals, the successful trustee respondents sought costs. The Appellate Court awarded costs as it found there was no reason in the case to depart from the principle that costs follow the event read more

Hohaia - Ahipara 73B2A

Māori Land Court (2014) 72 Taitokerau MB 50

7 February 2014

The Māori Land Court dismissed an application to change the status of a block of Māori freehold land to General land on the basis that the owner had no concrete plans for the land, the current status was not a such an impediment that the Court should change it, and the applicant's son opposed the application.

Download Hohaia - Ahipara 73B2A (2014) 72 Taitokerau MB 50 (105 KB PDF) here. read more

Kapa - Te Whakahau Hare and Ruka Paati

Māori Land Court (2014) 72 Taitokerau MB 54 (72 TTK 54)

5 February 2014

The late Te Whakahau Hare and Ruka Paati were removed as trustees. The class of beneficiaries of the Māori reservation was widened to include all the descendents of the original Whataipu owners. Beneficiaries were directed to nominate replacement trustees.

Download Kapa - Te Whakahau Hare and Ruka Paati here (138 KB PDF). read more