Māori Status in New Zealand Law · Jurisdiction Ledger · Part 40 · Settlement law

What does a “full and final” Treaty settlement actually remove from court or Tribunal jurisdiction?

Settlement legislation can expressly extinguish or bar specified historical claims from further inquiry while preserving other Treaty relationships or rights. The jurisdictional effect depends on the exact settlement Act.

Treaty settlement statutes provide one of the clearest examples of Parliament expressly changing jurisdiction.

The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 says the settlement of defined Ngāi Tahu claims is final, releases and discharges the Crown in respect of those claims, and removes court and Tribunal jurisdiction to inquire further into the settled claims, the validity of the deed, or the adequacy of the settlement benefits.

The Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995 similarly removes further court or Tribunal inquiry into the defined Raupatu claims. But its recitals expressly record that the settlement does not diminish the Treaty or ongoing Crown–Waikato relationship and does not undermine Treaty rights, including rangatiratanga rights.

“Full and final” is claim-specific, not automatically identity-wide or sovereignty-wide.The statutory jurisdictional bar must be read against the definition of the settled claims and any express preservation clauses. It is unsafe to say a settlement extinguishes all mana motuhake, all Te Tiriti rights, or every future cause of action unless the instrument actually says so.

Jurisdiction changedCourt/Tribunal inquiry into specifically defined historical claims and settlement adequacy.

Primary instrumentsEach settlement deed and settlement Act.

EffectRelease, discharge and statutory jurisdiction bar for the claims defined by the settlement.

What may surviveOngoing Treaty relationship, future/non-historical claims, statutory rights, rangatiratanga language or other matters expressly preserved by the particular settlement.

This closes the first Jurisdiction Ledger with a crucial rule: jurisdiction is not one indivisible thing. It is created, limited, redirected or barred field by field and instrument by instrument.

Settlement statuteNgāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, s 461.

Settlement statuteWaikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995, including recital X and s 9.

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