June 22, 2015
Treaty links to Magna Carta explored
Links between the Treaty of Waitangi and the 800-year-old Magna Carta will be drawn at a lecture at the National Library in Wellington this evening.
Dr Carwyn Jones from Ngati Kahungunu and Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, a senior law lecturer at Victoria University, says the document forced on King John by rebellious barons still plays an important role in the recognition and protection of human rights in New Zealand.
While the Magna Carta is a product of the concerns of medieval England, it also contained universal principles such as the principle that everyone is protected by the law and no person or institution is above the law, which remains in New Zealand statute and in the treaty.
" If we think about the sort of key ideas of kawanatanga and rangatiratanga that sets up an idea where yes there is a kawanatanga responsibility the government has some rights and responsibilities that come from the treaty. But that is limited. It is not absolute and there are also the guarantees of tino rangatiratanga in the treaty" he says. important role in the recognition and protection of human rights in New Zealand.
While the Magna Carta is a product of the concerns of medieval England, it also contained universal principles such as the principle that everyone is protected by the law and no person or institution is above the law, which remains in New Zealand statute and in the treaty.
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