 |
David Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1946  |
| Alma mater | |
| Employer |
|
| Awards |
|
| Position held | professor emeritus (2018–) |
David Vernon Williams FRSNZ is a professor, [1] and former deputy dean of the University of Auckland's Faculty of Law. He comes from the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand, and was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School.
His formal tertiary education qualifications include undergraduate degrees in history and in law (BA/LLB) from Victoria University of Wellington, a graduate degree in law (BCL) from the University of Oxford, England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, and a doctoral research qualification from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PhD) that included an analysis of colonial legal history in New Zealand, and a Diploma in Theology from the University of Oxford (DipTheol).
He is a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and holds a practising certificate to act as a barrister. He was employed as a legal academic at universities in England, Tanzania, and New Zealand from 1971 to 1991, and during that time he wrote numerous published articles and book chapters on issues related to colonial law, indigenous law and the Treaty of Waitangi.
From 1992 to 2000, his primary occupation was as a consultant contracted to research on law in history and on Treaty of Waitangi-related legal issues. He has acted in a variety of capacities in contracts with the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, the Law Commission, and Te Puni Kōkiri. He was responsible for the Māori Land Legislation Manual (and Database) which was published in two volumes by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust in 1994 and 1995. He is the author of Te Kooti Tango Whenua': The Native Land Court, 1864–1909 published by Huia Publishers in 1999.
Williams made front-page-news in 1978 when he walked into an Auckland Police station and asked to be arrested for stealing a pen from his employer. This was a protest against Police racism who two days earlier had arrested a Pacific Island migrant for stealing a comb from his employer. [2]
He has acted as an arbitrator in respect of Māori-owned forestry land. He is the honorary legal adviser to Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa (Anglican Church) and a member of the Anglican Church's General Synod/Te Hinota Whanui. In 2001, he was appointed an associate professor in law at the University of Auckland, and in 2005 was promoted to full professor.
In 2018, Williams was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. [3]
The Treaty of Waitangi, sometimes referred to as Te Tiriti, is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the treatment of the Māori people in New Zealand by successive governments and the wider population, something that has been especially prominent from the late 20th century. The treaty document is an agreement, not a treaty as recognised in international law, and has no independent legal status, being legally effective only to the extent it is recognised in various statutes. It was first signed on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson as consul for the British Crown and by Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand.
The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side, and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the Māori Wars, while Māori language names for the conflicts included Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa and Te riri Pākehā. Historian James Belich popularised the name "New Zealand Wars" in the 1980s, although according to Vincent O'Malley, the term was first used by historian James Cowan in the 1920s.
The Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand, signed by a number of Māori chiefs in 1835, proclaimed the sovereign independence of New Zealand prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. It is charged with investigating and making recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown, in the period largely since 1840, that breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi. The Tribunal is not a court of law; therefore, the Tribunal's recommendations and findings are not binding on the Crown. They are sometimes not acted on, for instance in the foreshore and seabed dispute.
Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei.
Claims and settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi have been a significant feature of New Zealand politics since the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 and the Waitangi Tribunal that was established by that act to hear claims. Successive governments have increasingly provided formal legal and political opportunity for Māori to seek redress for what are seen as breaches by the Crown of guarantees set out in the Treaty of Waitangi. While it has resulted in putting to rest a number of significant longstanding grievances, the process has been subject to criticisms including those who believe that the redress is insufficient to compensate for Māori losses. The settlements are typically seen as part of a broader Māori Renaissance.
The United Tribes of New Zealand was a confederation of Māori tribes based in the north of the North Island, existing legally from 1835 to 1840. It received diplomatic recognition from the United Kingdom, which shortly thereafter annexed it under the Treaty of Waitangi, an event that has largely shaped relations between the government of New Zealand and the Māori people since the 1960s.
Dame Judith Mary Caroline Binney was a New Zealand historian, writer and Emerita Professor of History at the University of Auckland. Her work focussed on religion in New Zealand, especially the Māori Ringatū religion founded by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and continued by Rua Kenana. She also wrote extensively on the history of Ngāi Tūhoe.
The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous rights movement in New Zealand. While there was a range of conflicts between Māori and European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing provided one reason for protesting. Disagreements in the decades following the signing sometimes included war.
The Māori Land Court is the specialist court of record in New Zealand that hears matters relating to Māori land.
Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington, and then to the Chatham Islands in the 1830s. The rohe of the iwi include Wharekauri, Te Whanga Lagoon and Waitangi on Chatham Island, and Pitt Island, also part of the Chatham Islands. The principal marae are at Urenui in Taranaki, and on the Chatham Islands.
Sir "Sidney" Hirini Moko Haerewa Mead is a New Zealand anthropologist, historian, artist, teacher, writer and prominent Māori leader. Initially training as a teacher and artist, Mead taught in many schools in the East Coast and Bay of Plenty regions, and later served as principal of several schools. After earning his PhD in 1968, he taught anthropology in several universities abroad. He returned to New Zealand in 1977 and established the first Māori studies department in the country. Mead later became a prominent Māori advocate and leader, acting in negotiations on behalf of several tribes and sitting on numerous advisory boards. He has also written extensively on Māori culture. He is currently the chair of the council of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.
Margaret Shirley Mutu is a Ngāti Kahu leader, author and academic from Karikari, New Zealand and works at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is Māori and her iwi (tribes) are Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa and Ngāti Whātua.
The New Zealand Māori Council is a body that represents and consults the Māori people of New Zealand. As one of the oldest Māori representative groups, the council exerts pressure on New Zealand governments to protect Treaty of Waitangi rights.
The judiciary of New Zealand is responsible for the system of courts that interprets and applies the laws of New Zealand. It has four primary functions: to provide a mechanism for dispute resolution; to deliver authoritative rulings on the meaning and application of legislation; to develop case law; and to uphold the rule of law, personal liberty and human rights. The judiciary is supported in its work by an executive department, the Ministry of Justice.
Peter Adds is Wellington-based academic, treaty negotiator and former head of Victoria University of Wellington's Te Kawa a Māui/School of Māori Studies. He is of Te Ati Awa descent. With a background in anthropology and archaeology, he has interests in Treaty of Waitangi settlements, indigenous astronomy, Māori development, and international indigenous issues.
R v Symonds(The Queen v Symonds) was an 1847 New Zealand Supreme Court case that incorporated the concept of aboriginal title into New Zealand law and upheld the government's pre-emptive right of purchase to Māori land deriving from the common law and expressed in the Treaty of Waitangi.
Mana motuhake is a phrase in the Māori language that means self determination, with the principle being autonomy and control. It is sometimes translated to the concept of sovereignty.
Aroha Gaylene Harris is a Māori academic. As of 2020, Harris is an associate professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in Māori histories of policy and community development. She is also a member of the Waitangi Tribunal.
Vincent Michael O’Malley FRHistS is a New Zealand historian whose work focuses on the history of how relationships between Māori, European settlers (Pākehā) and colonial governments shapes the development of New Zealand as a nation. In his publications, and as a presenter and media commentator, O'Malley takes public positions on the teaching of history in New Zealand schools, the importance of understanding the impact of the New Zealand Wars, interractions between Māori agency and Crown responses during the colonisation of the country and the role of the Waitangi Tribunal. O'Malley has received multiple research grants, won several literary awards and is involved in a wide range of professional associations. He is Research Director at HistoryWorks, a company he co-founded in 2004.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |