Aotahi 29 April - Legal Foundations (LAWS110)

Laws110

Treaty of Waitangi

How is it relevant?

Sasha Mcmeeking

How is the Treaty of Waitangi relevant to contemporary legal issues?

Next lectures

Understanding the Treaty: self-determination and land

The evolving Treaty- key legal decisions

Where could the Treaty be heading: Settlements and constitutional options- constitutional frontiers we could be heading into

Do you think the treaty of Waitangi is relevant to what you might do as a lawyer?

Founding document- increasingly organisations are trying to get effect to the treaty of Waitangi

Commercial Law

Relates to setting up companies, transactions between companies, due diligence on behalf of a client, make sure the client is not on the wrong side of inland revenue department

Is for the big law firms, main way they make money

There are a huge number of lawyers involved in commercial law

Set up companies

Negotiate and structure commercial deals

Ensure compliance with tax, reporting etc,

How is the Treaty relevant?

40 billion economy. 50 billion economy- Maori

Special types of entities

Special types of rules

Special types of deals

On behalf of land disputes Treaty is relevant

Through the treaty settlement progress- there are distinct Maori entities that have specific rules that apply to them

Deal with Maori organisation, they have particular rules. Some maori organisations have a different tax rate, tax rates can get mixed up. Some Maori entities have particular decision making progresses that are required. Need to understand the processes

2 degrees- Maori shareholder involved

Prominent business operators- some relationship with iwi or Maori organisation
Fonterra- supply agreements milk from Maori land

2 degrees- opportunities for Maori to buy in

Maori economy- everyday business practice

Rules that govern the relationships

Chance involvement with Maori

Good lawyering- need to understand drivers of Maori business

Not just a commercial return, Maori businesses sometimes want a social return, cultural visibility

Structure deal- need to understand drivers

Find ways in commercial relationships to give effect to them

Like carbon farming… commercial value, carbon credits

Five Iwi- relationship agreement

No commercial legal skills

Genealogical relationships to each other

Wanted it all written in Te Reo Maori

There are different skills for Iwi and Maori organisations, nature of relationship before mechanics

Needed to use particular type of legal entity, different layers of governance, relevant to NZ law, how to advise non-Maori clients how to work with Maori, or to serve Maori- must understand Treaty of Waitangi

Land Law

What is it?

• Ownership of and rights to land

• Sale and purchase of land

How is the Treaty relevant?

• 5% of New Zealand’s land is under separate Maori Land Law System, separate piece of legislation, amended 400 times since 1860s and separate court system for this 5% of land. Why? 5% of land has never left Maori ownership- ancestral claim, 95% of land was taken= complexities of how this ownership system works. 1000s of people own the land, descendants.

• Special rules for all aspects of ownership of and rights to land

Inability to make decisions

• Put homes on lands, being able to get everyone to make a decision is hard, lots of the owners listed are no longer alive, succession rules, how do you inherit Maori land? All of these things are increasingly relevant in land law and commercial law. Lots of entities might need to access Maori law to do a particular thing.

Resource Management Law...