Through the looking glass: How Treaty of Waitangi settlements redefine the crown

Abstract

Treaty of Waitangi settlements for historic grievances are an unusual feature of New Zealand’s constitutional landscape. Constitutional scholarship since the inception of the Crown’s negotiated Treaty settlement policy in the late 1980s has tended to focus on its political origins, its practical flaws, its effects on reconciliation and justice, and its justiciability. Each of these is important, but I wonder if, in focusing on these details, we have neglected to consider the constitutional changes these curious instruments effect.