Māori Status in New Zealand Law · Modern Status Audit · Part 26 · 1967–1974

Can the legal status of Māori land change while the owners remain Māori?

Yes. The 1967 reforms demonstrate that the statutory status of land and the descent/status of its owners are separate legal categories: specified Māori freehold land could be converted into general land without changing the owners' Māori identity.

The Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967 is an important warning against confusing the legal status of a person with the legal status of property.

Part I created machinery under which specified Māori freehold land could cease to be Māori land and enter the general land system. The Act also altered succession, administration and the treatment of uneconomic interests. NZHistory records the controversial compulsory conversion of Māori freehold land with four or fewer owners into general land and the expanded powers associated with uneconomic interests.

The person did not become “non-Māori” because the title classification changed.The statute could change the legal category attached to land while the owners remained Māori and New Zealand citizens. This is another example of several legal classifications operating at once.

Status of person

Māori descent and citizenship continued.

Status of land

The statutory title regime could move a parcel from Māori land into general land, changing the rules applicable to that property.

Strong Māori opposition followed. NZHistory records that the law was modified in 1974.

The law therefore distinguishes “Māori person”, “Māori-owned land” and “Māori land” as different juridical questions.

Primary statuteMaori Affairs Amendment Act 1967.

Historical implementationNZHistory — 1967 Māori Affairs Amendment Act.

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