A Simple Nullity: The Wi Parata Case in New Zealand law and History
Zoomicon-zoom-in
A Simple Nullity: The Wi Parata Case in New Zealand law and History

A Simple Nullity: The Wi Parata Case in New Zealand law and History

By
David V. Williams (Author)  

Paperback

Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock

Quantity

Also available on eBook for £20.99. Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo

In 1877, the NZ Supreme Court decided the case of Wi Parata v Bishop of Wellington, centred on the ownership and use of the Whitireia Block near Porirua, which had been granted by Ngati Toa to the Anglican Church for a school that was never built. Refusing jurisdiction over the case, the Court also denied the legal relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi in NZ law. The judges wrote, "So far indeed as that instrument purported to cede the sovereignty - a matter with which we are not directly concerned - it must be regarded as a simple nullity." Over the past 20 years, judges, lawyers and commentators have castigated the "simple nullity" view of the Treaty in this "infamous" case as a sign of the historic neglect of Maori rights by settlers, government, and the law in New Zealand. The case was used as a point of reference, in order to repudiate it, in the major Ngati Apa case that led to the Foreshore and Seabed legislation. Williams takes a fresh look at Wi Parata with insights into Maori/Pakeha relations and into the legal meaning of the Treaty. The case, he argues, tells us much about the power of 19th-century Maori as agents and about debates in Pakeha jurisprudence over the different potential legal sources of customary Maori rights (jure gentium and aboriginal title). Behind the apparent dismissal of the Treaty as a "simple nullity" lay deep arguments about Maori and Pakeha in Aotearoa NZ. Illustrations
David V Williams is professor of law at The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Contributor: David V. Williams
  • Imprint: Auckland University Press
  • ISBN13: 9781869404840
  • Number of Pages: 304
  • Format: Paperback
  • Publisher: Auckland University Press
  • Release Date: 2011-06-01
  • Binding: Paperback / softback
  • Biography: David V Williams is professor of law at The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Delivery Options

Home Delivery

Store Delivery

Free Returns

We hope you are delighted with everything you buy from us. However, if you are not, we will refund or replace your order up to 30 days after purchase. Terms and exclusions apply; find out more from our Returns and Refunds Policy.