3.5 Māori Land Court and Māori Appellate Court decisions

Cite decisions of the Māori Land Court and the Māori Appellate Court as follows:

Eg Craig v Kira – Wainui 2F4D (2006) 7 Whangarei Appellate MB 1 (7 APWH 1).

Eg White – Maketu A2A Lot 4 (1999) 1 Waiariki Appellate MB 116 (1 AP 116).

Cite decisions of the Native Land Court (as the Māori Land Court was previously called) using the same format but do not include the case name or the citation.

Eg Tokoroa (1880) 6 Waikato MB 4 at 5.

Eg Chatham Islands (1870) 1 Chatham Islands MB 63 at 65.

3.5.1 Case name

(a) Contested cases

Cite the case name for contested cases in accordance with the general rules governing case names in rule 3.2.1.

Eg Waaka v Jones – Wharekawa East 4A (1983) 207 Rotorua MB 212 (207 ROT 212).

(b) Uncontested cases

If a case is uncontested, give the name of the applicant.

Eg The Proprietors of Potikirua Inc – Part Te Piki 2 (2008) 103 Opotiki MB 17 (103 OPO 17).

(c) Applications filed by the Chief Registrar or Deputy Registrar

Cite these applications as:

Eg Chief Registrar v Māori Land Court (2005) Chief Judge’s MB 276 (2005 CJ 276).

(d) Native Land Court

Do not include the case name when citing a decision of the Native Land Court. Refer to the case by the block name only.

3.5.2 Block name

(a) Punctuation

Separate the case name and block name by an en dash. The keyboard shortcut for an en dash on Windows computers is “Ctrl + - ” (where “-” is the minus symbol) and on Apple computers “Option + -” (where “-” is the hyphen symbol).

(b) Block name

Give the block name in addition to the parties’ names. Historically, decisions of the Māori Land Court and Māori Appellate Court were only referred to by block names and not by parties’ names.

Eg Ngatai v Charmaine – Matakana 1A7A (2007) 21 Waikato Maniapoto Appellate Court MB 147 (21 APWM 147).

3.5.3 Year of judgment

The year of the judgment in round brackets follows the block name.

3.5.4 Minute book reference

(a) General rule

The minute book reference follows the year of judgment. The minute book reference consists of the minute book volume number, a full reference to the minute book and the folio number.

Eg Hohua – Estate of Tangi Biddle (2001) 10 Rotorua Appellate MB 43 (10 APRO 43).

(b) Do not abbreviate

Include the full title of the minute book. However, “Minute Book” may be abbreviated “MB”.

3.5.5 Citation

(a) General rule

The minute book citation in round brackets follows the full minute book reference.

Eg Matchitt – Parekura Hei Roadway, Part Te Kaha Block (2003) 10 Waiariki Appellate MB 253 (10 AP 253).

(b) Background

Incorporating the full wording of the minute book (for example Rotorua Appellate MB) as well as the citation (10 APRO 32) will assist Māori Land Court staff to find the case being cited. This remains important as in some instances judgments are only available from the Māori Land Court.

In addition, it is necessary to have the minute book reference citation as there are currently many different Māori Land Court minute books and different abbreviations. For example, to simply put “Chief Judge’s MB” could lead the user to a number of different minute books. There are various Chief Judges’ books, with various abbreviations such as CJ, CJTK, CJTA, WHCJ, CJTW, CJWM and CJW.

(c) Native Land Court

Do not include the citation when citing decisions of the Native Land Court.

3.5.6 Pinpoint

Give the pinpoint reference in accordance with rule 3.2.8.