Multi-textualism, ‘Treaty Hegemony’ and the Waitangi Tribunal: Making Sense of Nineteenth-century Crown-Maori Negotiations in Te Urewera

Abstract

This paper considers the constitutional implications of the Crown-Tuhoe negotiations between 1894 and 1896, culminating in the 1895 Urewera Agreement and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 (UDNRA). The paper will consider the historical background to the Urewera Agreement, the case for its singularity in New Zealand legal history, as well as how it should be considered, in terms of both its content and its constitutional status, particularly in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi. Focus will be placed on critically reviewing the Waitangi Tribunal’s first two pre-publications of the Te Urewera report, particularly its discussion of, and approach towards, these particular points ...