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THE ROLE OF LEGISLATION
The purpose of this section is to provide a brief background on the relationship between Ngati Hau,
Ngapuhi and the Maori Land Court between 1865 and 1920. Ngati Hau along with other Ngapuhi
hapu was highly critical of the role of the Maori Land Court to investigate and determine land
ownership. Informed and narrated tribal biographies, genealogies, histories, events and relationships
including the geography of the land were provided at sittings of the Maori Land Court. From 1840 to
1865, the Crown asserted right of pre-emption and purchased up to two thirds of New Zealand‟s land
area by sequential deeds of sale which were transferred to provincial governments, for grant and sale
of ownership for colonial settlement (Simpson, 1979).
Fifty five years of Ngati Hau attendance at Maori Land Court sittings brought about the substantial
sale and loss of customary Maori lands and transformed the land tenure system of tribal ownership
into three classifications: general land acquired for settlers through acts of parliament or sale, crown
lands acquired by acts of parliament for settlement and development, such as the Waste Lands Act
1858, New Zealand Settlement Act 1863 and Public Works Act 1876 and the decreasing residue of
customary land for Maori occupation (Riseborough & Hutton, 1997).
In 1835, the Declaration of Independence by Northern chiefs and rangatira was recognised by England
and was a significant step toward the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 (Walker, 1990). The
1852 New Zealand Constitution Act granted New Zealand self-government and a parliamentary
system based on the Westminster parliamentary system of the United Kingdom (Brookfield, 1989).
“The Native Land Court Act 1862 adjudicated competing customary claims to land”
(www.nzhistory.net.nz) and created a Court of Jurors which was trialled in Northland. The Court
was chaired by a pakeha magistrate and included several Ngapuhi chiefs as Jurors namely Hone Mohi
Tawhai (Te Mahurehure), Penetana Papahurihia (Ngati Hau ki Omanaia) and Hoterene Tawatawa
(Ngati Wai). The 1862 Act was repealed in 1865 and required the Court to name no more than ten
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