February 28, 2017
Supreme Court upsets Nelson settlement
The Supreme Court has found that the crown does have a fiduciary duty to uphold the terms of the 1845 decision that the crown reserve 15,000 acres of land included in the New Zealand company's Nelson purchase for the benefit of its customary owners.
The majority decision overturns decisions of the High Court and Court of Appeal and means Ngati Tama and Ngati Rarua kaumatua Rore Pat Stafford may go back to the High court to seek a remedy on behalf of the customary owners.
However the court found Wakatu Incorporation, which administers the remaining tenths reserves, and Te Kahui Ngahuru Trust, which respresents descendants of the 253 beneficiaries identified in 1893, had no standing to bring the claims.
The decision means the government must revisit its settlement of claims in the top of the South Island, which it had insisted extinguished any other historic claims.
The court also ordered the crown to pay Mr Stafford $55,000 in costs, and cost orders against Wakatu and the trust by the lower courts were quashed.
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