Genesis of New Zealand's Legal History

Abstract

Little has been done in the matter of investigating the legal history or New Zealand. No attempt has been made to record in any detail the legal situations which arose from time to time after the foot of the European was first placed upon our shores. The effect in International Law of Tasman's discovery and of Cook's exploration has been passed over with little, if any, comment by the general historians; the opportunity given to the Maoris to found a State for themselves has been made light of; the peripatetic treaty has been alternately glorified and decried; while the first attempts at legislation for the infant colony created a perfect furore. The difficulties that beset the path of the pioneer settlers and officials were by no means light. Writers of later years find it easy to criticise, but not one of them can prove in a convincing fashion that the alternative courses suggested would have produced more beneficial results. Legal,political, and moral considerations were almost so inextricably interwoven in the infancy of colonial settlements far removed from the administrative centre of the Motherland, that errors of policy became inevitable. New Zealand was no exception. In the calm atmosphere of Downing Street, it must indeed have been difficult to visualise the complicated environment of the distant pioneers of Empire.