Nu Tireni · Evidence Series · Part 24 · 1998–2017
What happens when Māori sovereignty is raised as a defence to New Zealand jurisdiction today?
A consistent line of modern cases holds that Acts of the New Zealand Parliament bind persons within New Zealand and that sovereignty challenges cannot exempt an individual from the ordinary civil or criminal courts.
Territorial jurisdiction · Statutory supremacy
From the late twentieth century onward, litigants repeatedly argued that He Wakaputanga, te Tiriti, tikanga, unceded mana or a separate Māori sovereignty deprived New Zealand courts of jurisdiction over them.
The cases include R v Knowles, Warren v Police, Manukau v Attorney-General, Barrett v Police, R v Toia, Wallace v R, Phillips v R and later decisions applying the same line.
The recurring propositions are straightforward: Parliament is empowered to legislate; its Acts do not derive their present legal validity from He Wakaputanga or the Treaty; and legislation of general application binds Māori and non-Māori alike within New Zealand unless the legislation itself provides otherwise.
In Wallace, the Supreme Court described a jurisdictional argument advanced essentially on Māori sovereignty grounds as plainly unsound legally. In Phillips, the Court of Appeal said the leading decisions affirm Parliamentary sovereignty and the application of legislation to all New Zealanders irrespective of race.
This is not a judicial finding that the Waitangi Tribunal was wrong about what Te Raki rangatira agreed in February 1840. The courts are answering a different legal question: whether that historical finding presently allows individuals to opt out of the statutory jurisdiction of the New Zealand state.
The answer from the courts is no: unresolved foundational legitimacy does not create an individual exemption from present statutes.
Historical proposition
Te Raki signatories did not cede sovereignty in the sense identified by the Waitangi Tribunal.
Present jurisdiction proposition
New Zealand courts nevertheless apply valid statutes throughout New Zealand and reject unilateral sovereignty exemptions.
Primary, judicial and official sources
Warren v Police — Māori Law Review summary ↗
Phillips v R [2013] NZCA 580 ↗