Indigenous Peoples and the State - International Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi

Abstract

Just over thirty years ago, in the High Court decision Huakina Development Trust v Waikato Valley Authority, Justice Chilwell famously stated: “There can be no doubt that the Treaty is part of the fabric of New Zealand society”.[1] At a symposium celebrating 30 years of the Huakina decision, Tom Bennion described the judgment as “a marker, a significant new structure sticking out in the legal landscape, indicating the shape of arguments to come.”  This collection of work brings together a range of arguments for our time as to the meaning and importance of the Treaty of Waitangi shaped by different perspectives as to its context and history. 

[1] [1987] 2 NZLR 188, at 210. As a result of that case, the Treaty is now part of the context in which legislation which impinges upon its principles is to be interpreted, even where a statute is silent as to the Treaty or its principles.