You wrote:
> In July 1994 the Maori Law Review reported that in the Whanganui River
> claim (Wai 167, D18, 27 July 1994) the claimants sought that the Crown
> recognise the Whanganui River as having legal personality, as the tupuna
> awa of the Whanganui iwi on the basis of English cases (Mullick (1925) 52
> LR Indian Appeals 245 and Bumper [1991] 4 All ER 638) concerning Hindu
> religious institutions recognised as 'juristic entities'. Those cases
> involved orders that an object used in worship be joined as a party in the
> litigation so that the court would have the benefit of hearing its views
> on its future.
>
> Has the Waitangi Tribunal reported on the whether the Whanganui River is a
> juristic person for the purposes of New Zealand law?
The report of the tribunal is still awaited. It should be out by the end of
the year.
> Are there other examples of such objects or places being recognised as
> juristic persons in legal proceedings?
I can't think of any specific cases in NZ. It has become the practice here
to vest important sites such as mountains in the names of long dead
ancestors. There is for example before the NZ parliament now, the
Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims Settlement Bill, which will provide that some
land transferred to the Waikato-Tainui people as part of a multi-million
dollar settlement will be communally held in trust "and part of that land
will be registered in the name of Pootatau Te Wherowhero .. and that no land
may be transferred out of the name of Pootatau te Wherowhero without the
consent of the "custodians of Te Wherowhero title".
Te Wherowhero was an important figure last century who resisted land sales,
and had the lands of his tribe invaded and confiscated for his pains.
On a slightly different tack, the Resource Management Act 1991, the major
planning statute in NZ, provides that "the relationship of Maori and their
culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu
(loosely, sacred sites), and other taonga" (loosely, treasured things), is a
matter of "national importance" and must be recognised and provided for in
all planning schemes. A lot of potential there, although no cases have
really dealt with that section in depth so far.
Tom Bennion
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Tom Bennion mailto:bennion@actrix.gen.nz
editor, Maori Law Review
http://www.wcc.govt.nz/extern/bennion/mlr_home.htm
