Over the last 30 years legislation and Judge-made law affecting Māori, as Māori, has proliferated. In this New Zealand is unique. No other Western country has embraced indigeneity in law to the same extent. Everything from the legal status in general law of tikanga Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi, to the enforceability of aboriginal rights and title has been the subject of judicial pronouncement in the strictly common law realm. In the more dynamic field of Parliamentary law, Māori considerations, processes, and even decision-makers have been inserted into statutes in a wide variety of legislation. Is there a broad pattern emerging in these judicial and Parliamentary interventions? Are there underlying ideas and principles in play in the gradual build-up of the Māori dimension in modern New Zealand law? Or are these developments just opportunistic, pragmatic, ad hoc and unconnected? In short, can the Māori dimension in New Zealand law now be mapped? Justice Williams will attempt answers to these questions and, building on those answers, will make suggestions about drivers for change and expansion heading into the future in this increasingly important area of New Zealand law.

• published: 08 Nov 2013
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