Te Rauhī I te Tikanga – a Tikanga Companion (Phase 1)
About the project
The general legal system of Aotearoa New Zealand is increasingly acknowledging that tikanga Māori comprises law in its own right and may be able to apply to people who are not Māori. By 1 January 2025 all law schools in Aotearoa New Zealand are required to include tikanga Māori as a substantive and compulsory element of the law degree.
This Project will create a digital ‘companion’ to guide those wanting to learn about tikanga Māori and the New Zealand legal system. Users will be better able to see how those concepts and practices have been understood and applied historically as Māori legal norms and procedures, as demonstrated in their interaction with the general laws in the development of the general legal system of Aotearoa New Zealand and its institutions. The methods and direction of the research has been set under the Pilot stage of this project completed in 2023.
The leadership group are conscious of key risks: that any such resource could encourage the exploitation or distortion of tikanga Māori, based on a de-contextualised and insufficient understanding of tikanga as a system of law. This digital companion will be designed with principles that keep these risks in mind.
This project is based at the Law School at Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture – Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.
Grant amount
$280,000 over 2023 and 2024
About the Leadership Group
The leadership group includes Māmari Stephens (Te Rarawa), the project lead and Reader in Law based at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. Dr Carwyn Jones, Ngāti Kahungunu and Te Aitanga a Māhaki, is co-editor of The Māori Law Review, author of New Treaty New Tradition, and is Pūkenga Matua in the Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) programme at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Paul Meredith Ngāti Maniapoto, was co-editor of Te Mātāpuenga – A Compendium of References to Concepts and Institutions of Māori Customary Law (VUW Press 2013) and is the Deputy Chief Executive, Māori, Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision. Tai Ahu, Waikato, Ngāti Kahu (Te Paatu) was recently the Chief Executive of Hineuru Iwi Trust and part-time General Counsel for Te Ohu Kai Moana. Tai is a director of Whāia Legal.
Contact
Māmari Stephens, Project lead, Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture – Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.