Dr Carwyn Jones from Victoria University of Wellington’s Law School will use a Marsden Fast-Start grant to explore the operation of Māori law from the inside. He will focus on identifying Māori legal principles from within a range of cultural expressions such as waiata (songs), whakairo (carvings), karakia (prayers/chants), and kōrero pūrākau (stories).
These sources reveal particular patterns of authority and decision-making (and constraints on legal authority), particular forms of legal communication, argument and reasoning, and distinctive mechanisms for enforcement and remedy. They comprise the full range of mechanisms that we associate with a well-developed legal system.
This project has the potential to greatly increase the accessibility of Māori law in a way that empowers Māori communities. It will also enable the state legal system to engage with Māori legal issues in a more sophisticated way than it does today.