He identified a third phase, when tikanga Māori fuses with New Zealand’s common law tradition to form a hybrid law of Aotearoa that could be developed by judges, case by base. “There are certainly sensitivities here, but if our state legal system can open up and learn about the Māori legal system, then this is a good thing. The Te Ture Whenua Māori Act (the Māori Land Act) 1993 had a mechanism for the High Court to state any question of tikanga to the Māori Appellate Court, which had expertise in tikanga Māori. “... the common law of Aotearoa is different to the common law of other countries. “Will the first law evolve in the way that the common law did: from a system of local custom to a more positivist system of judge-made law?

Source: Stuff July 08, 2020 17:01 UTC