General assessment of the Panel’s report In my view the report falls short of its terms of reference, is flawed in many respects and, as a consequence, the review has missed the opportunity for a rigorous evaluation of the Act.
Documents/Judges-corner-articles/MLC-2014-Jun-Judges-Corner-Ambler-J.pdf (191 kb)
The Tribunal concluded, after an exhaustive review of the evidence, that the ‘gift’ was understood by Horonuku Te Heu Heu to be an offer of a partnership with the Queen as a joint trustee and custodian of the peaks.
Documents/Guides-Templates-Factsheets/MLC-150-years-of-the-Maori-Land-Court.pdf (11 mb)
Support was given for the formation of a whānau trust. An application to constitute a whānau trust was filed in 2004 and eventually heard in February of 2005.
‘Custom law: address to the New Zealand Society for Legal and Social Philosophy’ in Victoria University of Wellington Law Review (1994) 24: 325-331, p.328. 2 for Māori to have their rights, and their systems of governance, acknowledged alongside the law of the state as a matter of justice.
Documents/Judges-corner-articles/JWI-ACPECT-Presentation-2022.pdf (540 kb)
TRUST REVIEW Within one year of the establishment of this trust, the trustees shall apply to the court for a review of the trust.
Documents/Guides-Templates-Factsheets/2021-12-07-Ahu-Whenua-Trust-Order-Template.pdf (398 kb)
In my experience this land does not exist! One hundred years ago this misconception was responsible for the Crown purchasing much of Te Urewera lands.
See Chapter 21 for the Trustees' rights to have the Trust pay for any costs and liability incurred by the Trustees on behalf of the Trust. 1.3 Any assets acquired or contracts entered into by the Trustees on behalf of the Trust must be used and held for the benefit of the Trust and not for the personal benefit of the Trustees.
Thus the project has highlighted this issue for staff and the judges. Fifth The project has also highlighted the need for the Māori Land Court to be more proactive in its identification and review of defunct trusts and incorporations due to circumstances such as the death of key trustee or management committee members.
We await confirmation of the details and programme for the Government’s review of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act, and so now is not the time for comment from the judiciary.
The matter of ownership needed to be resolved first, as any application for accretion would be made by the owners of the land.
