One of New Zealand’s preeminent legal historians says that New Zealand’s constitutional framework is much more complex than a focus on the Treaty of Waitangi has led us to believe.
In his inaugural lecture on Tuesday 8 March, Professor Richard Boast will argue that there were many more ‘treaties’ in colonial New Zealand than just the 1840 document, and that an examination and debate about their significance is needed.
“It is often assumed that the Treaty of Waitangi was the only Treaty between the state and New Zealand’s indigenous population, making New Zealand unlike ‘multi-textual’ jurisdictions such as the United States.”
He says the reality is quite different. “There is an enormous number of contracts and agreement from 1840 up until the present time—it’s been a fundamental characteristic of our legal and constitutional system.”
He points out there were constitution level negotiations between Māori and the state in areas such as the King Country, Rotorua and the Urewera region.
“It’s timely for us to reconsider our basic political structure and history and if the Treaty is to maintain a central place then how might that be, given a growing awareness of these other agreements and deals.”
Professor Boast says this history has been overshadowed by political discourse that has elevated the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi.
“It has caused something of a simplification of our history. The Treaty has been elevated to the central frame of reference whether particular groups signed it or not.
“I think probably historians have on the whole accepted the view that the Treaty of Waitangi is our founding text, our founding document, and haven’t really seen the need to go any further than that—it’s almost as though getting the Treaty established in public discourse in the 1970s and 1980s was so important, that other things were lost sight of.”
Professor Boast has appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal on numerous occasions, both as counsel and as an expert witness, and has written a number of specialist reports for the Waitangi Tribunal on geothermal issues, foreshore and seabed claims, and the history of Maori land alienation. He has also authored or co-authored various books and articles in the areas of natural resources law, New Zealand legal history, and the law relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, including A New Zealand Legal History (2004) and Foreshore and Seabed (2005).
He was a member of the review panel that reported to the Attorney-General in June 2009 recommending the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and replacing it with new legislation. His book Buying the Land, Selling the Land, (2008) was awarded the Montana Book award for history in 2009.
Victoria Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says Professor Richard Boast has established himself as the preeminent legal historian in New Zealand.
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