The Māori Language Act 1987 was a piece of

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

passed by the Parliament of New Zealand that gave

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

status to the

Māori language Māori (; endonym: 'the Māori language', commonly shortened to ) is an Eastern Polynesian languages, Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. The southernmost membe ...

(), and gave speakers a right to use it in legal settings such as courts. It also established the Māori Language Commission, initially called , to promote the language and provide advice on it. The law was enacted as the ''Maori Language Act 1987'' and originally written without macrons. The 1987 act was repealed by section 48 of the Māori Language Act 2016. However, there were no major changes from the provisions of the old legislation and the 2016 act merely updated the 1987 law with new provisions and language.

Context

The act was the result of years of campaigning by Māori, particularly those involved in the Māori protest movement. It was also the result of shifts in thinking about the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...

. By the mid-1980s, the treaty had acquired increased relevance thanks primarily to the Waitangi Tribunal. The act was passed at least in part as a response to Waitangi Tribunal finding that the Māori language was a (treasure or valued possession) under the Treaty of Waitangi. The act also drew on a number of international precedents, primarily the Act 1978 of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, which is cited several times in the legislation, but also the Welsh Language Act 1967 of the United Kingdom, which enabled the use of the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

in Welsh court proceedings. Despite the act, Māori does not have the same status under law as English. For example, tax records must be kept in English unless the Commissioner of Internal Revenue agrees otherwise.

1991 amendment

The act was amended in 1991 and legislated the Māori Language Commission's name change to . It also slightly expanded the range of legal settings in which Māori could be used, to include bodies such as the Tenancy Tribunal and any Commission of Inquiry.

Repeal by 2016 act

The 1987 act was repealed on 30 April 2016 by section 48 of Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori 2016 / Māori Language Act 2016, which updated the law. As a New Zealand first, there are two versions of the new act, one in Māori and the other in English, with section 12 stating that if there was any conflict in meaning between the two versions, the Māori version would prevail.

References

Bibliography

External links

Maori Language Act 1987 as enacted

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maori Language Act 1987 Treaty of Waitangi Māori politics Māori language 1987 in New Zealand law Statutes of New Zealand Language revival New Zealand language legislation relating to Māori rights