Waitangi Tribunal theme Q - Inland waterways - lakes [pdf, 2.3 MB]
...by those that had previously held rights in the waterway. This example stands as testament to the huge differences between the way in which nineteenth-century Maori and colonial officials grounded in English common law, viewed the world – especially environmental phenomena. In the context of the ownership of lakes, this disparity gave rise to a mutual non-comprehension which in some respects has endured until the present. But regardless of the relative propriety of the imposition of common l...