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The Treaty of WaitangiThe Treaty of Waitangi was signed in1840, as an agreement between theBritish Crown and a large numberof Maori. Today the Treaty is widelyaccepted to be a constitutionaldocument, which establishes andguides relationships between theCrown, New Zealand and Maori.The Court systemNew Zealand has a hierarchical Courtsystem which has jurisdiction to hearboth criminal and civil claims. NewZealand also has a specialist familycourt, environment court, employmentcourt, youth court and Maori land court.The New Zealand processes closelyresemble those of England andAustralia. With a small number ofexemptions, civil cases are determinedby a judge sitting alone and not witha jury. However, juries are common inserious criminal trials.In addition, parties are able to resolvetheir disputes by arbitration withoutinterference of the Courts, pursuantto the Arbitration Act 1996. TheAct is based on the Model Law onInternational Commercial Arbitration(UNCITRAL) and gives effect tovarious international protocols andconventions. New Zealand is also asignatory to the New York conventionon the recognition and enforcement offoreign arbitral awards. Arbitral awardsfrom other state parties are recognisedand enforceable in New Zealand.ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCEMANAGEMENTThe Resource Management ActThe principal piece of environmentallegislation in New Zealand is theResource Management Act 1991. TheAct has a broad purpose, being thesustainable management of naturaland physical resources. Sustainablemanagement is defined in section5(2) of the Act as managing the use,development, and protection of naturaland physical resources in a way, orat a rate, which enables people andcommunities to provide for their social,economic, and cultural well being andfor their health and safety while:(a) sustaining the potential of naturaland physical resources (excludingminerals) to meet the reasonablyforeseeable needs of futuregenerations;(b) safeguarding the life-supportingcapacity of air, water, soil, andecosystems; and(c) avoiding, remedying, or mitigatingany adverse effects of activities onthe environment.(d) In practice, sustainablemanagement is achieved through,first, a hierarchy of planningdocuments and, secondly, throughthe mechanism of the resourceconsent process.Planning DocumentsPlanning documents include, in order ofhierarchical importance:(a) national Policy Statements;(b) regional Policy Statements;(c) regional Plans; and(d) district Plans.24