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One of the authors of a compendium of Maori legal concepts says some of the foundations of Maori customary law can be traced back to the distant past, while other elements seem to be relatively recent.
Te Matapunenga was given a launch last week at Waikato University, where the authors Richard Benton, Alex Frame and Paul Meredith were part of Te Matahauariki Research Institute.
Dr Benton says it’s a book that will appeal not just to lawyers but to anyone who is interested in New Zealand’s past and future.
He says many of the words and concepts can be found throughout the Pacific and back into Asia where the Polynesians ancestors came from.
"Concepts like hara and whakamaa go way back into the mists of time almost unchanged. Other ideas have changed some times quite radically over the millennia but others seem to underpin the whole way of Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian thinking," Dr Benton says.
Te Matapunenga is published by Victoria University Press.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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