The Native Land Court is established
- When
- 30 October 1865
- Reach
- Nationwide
The court converted customary communal title into individual freehold — the mechanism by which most remaining Māori land was lost, without a shot fired.
Chief Judge Fenton’s court named a limited number of owners on each title, who could then sell without the hapū’s consent. Claimants had to travel to sittings, pay survey and legal costs, and often mortgaged the land to do so. Māori land holdings fell from about 80 percent of the North Island in 1860 to under 10 percent by 1920. Native Minister Henry Sewell later described the court’s object as the detribalisation of Māori.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
New Zealand Settlements Act — raupatu
Te raupatu whenua
The Crown took roughly 1.2 million hectares from iwi deemed to be in rebellion — including from communities that had never fought.
The 28th (Māori) Battalion
Te Hokowhitu-a-Tū
A volunteer battalion organised by tribal area fought through Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy, and took proportionally the heaviest casualties of any New Zealand unit.
Tohunga Suppression Act
An Act making it an offence to practise as a tohunga, aimed at prophets and healers whose authority the state saw as a threat to assimilation.
Pai Mārire spreads
Te Ua Haumēne’s faith, blending Christian and Māori belief, spread from Taranaki across the North Island and was met with force by the Crown.
Taranaki