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New Zealand > :History of law

New Zealand is a country in the South Pacific Ocean made up of two large islands and numerous smaller ones. It has a population of just over 4 million people. First discovered by the polynesians about a thousand years ago. Europeans first came to know of the islands when Dutch explorer Able Tasman encountered them in 1642. In 1769 they were circumnavigated and mapped by the British explorer Captain James Cook. Whalers and missionaries followed some years later. In 1835, the "Confederated Chiefs" drew up a "Declaration of Independence". However, in 1840 the "Treaty of Waitangi" was signed by all the significant Chiefs of the Maori tribes and Lieutenant Governor Hobson, as the representative of Queen Victoria. New Zealand thus became, first, a British colony and later a separate Dominion of the British Empire or Country of the British Commonwealth. Since 1840, New Zealand has been a democratic country, administering, at first, British law, and more recently, its own law. The parliament, courts, legal and justice system is based on British constitutional that have been adapted for New Zealand conditions.

Bibliography

• Hight, James, Sir, (1870–1958), The constitutional history and law of New Zealand, Whitcombe and Tombs limited, Christchurch : 1914, 418 p.
• Griffith, Keith C., New Zealand adoption : history and practice, social and legal, 1840-1996 : process and practice, special issues, records and access, Maori adoption, statutes and rules, bibliography, case law indexes., K.C. Griffith, Wellington, NZ : 1997, 659 p. ISBN 0473040050

External links

History of law in Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand