Moriori, Maori and the Crown:
Reflections on the Waitangi Tribunal's
Chathams (Rekohu) Report
F M Brookfield |
For over a decade, partly as a result of reading the work of Michael King,' Douglas Sutton , Bryan Gilling and others, I have been conscious that the 1835 invasion and colonisation of the Chatham Islands, Rekohu of the indigenous Moriori people, by the Taranaki hapu Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama, are significant in Maori/Pakeha and Waitangi issues. I have raised the matter in the past,' most recently and fully in my book Waitangi and Indigenous Rights5 (hereafter "Waitangi"). So far as I am aware, there has been no published comment on what I have written. I hope that book and now this essay will spur those who have been holding back. James Belich has recently written that "the Chathams have skeletons in the closet".' Perhaps for some controversialists that is where they should stay.
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Reflections on Exemplary Damages
and Personal Injury Liability
in New Zealand
Joanna Manning |
In 1982, in Donselaar v Donselaar, the Court of Appeal held that exemplary damages fell outside the statutory bar on damages for personal injury covered by the accident compensation scheme.' Parliament has since confirmed this.
In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of actions for exemplary damages in the personal injuries field. The reasons for this upsurge in claims cannot be known with certainty, but various theories have been advanced. One explanation suggested is that victims of personal injury have been turning to claims for exemplary damages, seeking additional compensation because of the reduction in benefits payable under the accident compensation scheme.' The Court of Appeal has clearly been suspicious of this strategy, noting that many of the cases "have the appearance of seeking compensatory as well as exemplary relief', and has firmly stated that it regards any such trend as an illegitimate circumvention of the accident compensation regime that is to be resisted.'
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2002 PART II
