Media Release
29 May 2009
immediate

Book on the Treaty of Waitangi is Named Best NZ Legal Book 2008

Matthew S. R. Palmer’s book “The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s Law and Constitution” has won the JF Northey Book Award.

In this academically robust and accessible book, supported by the New Zealand Law Foundation, Matthew Palmer answers a number of questions, for example:

What was the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in the law and constitution in 1840?

What has the Treaty been reinterpreted to mean in New Zealand today?

What is its current legal status and force?

What is its current place in New Zealand’s constitution?

His book goes on to provide concrete suggestions for where the Treaty should be in New Zealand’s law and constitution.

The Legal Research Foundation makes three writing awards annually. The JF Northey Book Award is given for the best book published in 2008 and carries a prize of $2000. The awards were announced last night at a function in Auckland. A group of legal academics, practitioners and judges is involved in shortlisting and judging the awards. The Legal Research Foundation (Inc.) is an independent, non-profit body associated with the University of Auckland Faculty of Law.

Matthew Palmer has worked as a senior official in New Zealand government and as Dean of Law at Victoria University of Wellington. He has experience of the reality of Treaty negotiations and coordinating Treaty strategy for the Crown and has taught and written about the Treaty of Waitangi and comparative indigenous peoples’ rights in New Zealand and North America.

Matthew Palmer wrote this book while holding the New Zealand Law Foundation’s International Research Fellowship. This annual award of up to $100,000 supports research on matters of substantial public importance that is likely to lead to reform or betterment of New Zealand law. Applications close on 1 September.

“The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s Law and Constitution”
Matthew S. R. Palmer
ISBN 9780864735799
NZrrp $50.00
Published by Victoria University Press in November 2008.

ENDS

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