scholarly journals Māori Purposes Acts: Just "washing-up" or more than meets the eye?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Angela O'Meara

<p>Māori Purposes Bills were commonly described in Parliament’s debating chamber as “washing-up” bills, which suggested they were considered to be of little importance. This research challenges that perspective.  The research explores Māori Purposes Acts as a body of law, beginning in 1931. It considers the content of the legislation, the legislative process and the role of Māori Purposes Acts within the legislative framework. The research examines policy provisions and amendments, the petitions process facilitated by the legislation, special governance arrangements, and remedial provisions including settlements with the Crown.  The research incorporates quantitative analysis, but due to the variability of the provisions contained in the legislation, a predominantly qualitative approach is used to consider the nature of the Acts. The research operates within an orthodox legal paradigm and Karl Llewellyn’s “law-jobs” theory is used as an analytical framework to identify common themes, draw out the purposes of the legislation and understand its role in New Zealand’s legal system. Critical race and post-colonial theoretical perspectives are acknowledged but are not central to the research. The research also considers whether Māori Purposes Acts delivered justice for Māori prior to the modern Treaty of Waitangi settlements process.  The research concludes the washing-up characterisation was often inaccurate. The research found Māori Purposes Acts were used as a mechanism to provide Māori with relief from and remedies for particular problems, which were often raised by petition to Parliament, and remedies gave effect to recommendations of the Māori Affairs Committee and Royal Commissions. Some remedies were expressed as settlements of Māori grievances against the Crown, which preceded modern Treaty of Waitangi settlements. The legislation was used to maintain the legislative framework governing Māori land ownership and Māori communities, to introduce new policies and fill policy gaps, and to create special exceptions to the legislative framework including special governance provisions.  The research provides evidence of the poor fit between the restrictive legislative framework governing Māori lives and Māori needs, and it demonstrates the inability of New Zealand’s legal system to deliver justice for Māori. Although many provisions attempted to ameliorate inequities, correct mistakes and resolve disputes, provisions often fell short of meeting the criteria for justice and are best described as taking important steps towards justice.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Angela O'Meara

<p>Māori Purposes Bills were commonly described in Parliament’s debating chamber as “washing-up” bills, which suggested they were considered to be of little importance. This research challenges that perspective.  The research explores Māori Purposes Acts as a body of law, beginning in 1931. It considers the content of the legislation, the legislative process and the role of Māori Purposes Acts within the legislative framework. The research examines policy provisions and amendments, the petitions process facilitated by the legislation, special governance arrangements, and remedial provisions including settlements with the Crown.  The research incorporates quantitative analysis, but due to the variability of the provisions contained in the legislation, a predominantly qualitative approach is used to consider the nature of the Acts. The research operates within an orthodox legal paradigm and Karl Llewellyn’s “law-jobs” theory is used as an analytical framework to identify common themes, draw out the purposes of the legislation and understand its role in New Zealand’s legal system. Critical race and post-colonial theoretical perspectives are acknowledged but are not central to the research. The research also considers whether Māori Purposes Acts delivered justice for Māori prior to the modern Treaty of Waitangi settlements process.  The research concludes the washing-up characterisation was often inaccurate. The research found Māori Purposes Acts were used as a mechanism to provide Māori with relief from and remedies for particular problems, which were often raised by petition to Parliament, and remedies gave effect to recommendations of the Māori Affairs Committee and Royal Commissions. Some remedies were expressed as settlements of Māori grievances against the Crown, which preceded modern Treaty of Waitangi settlements. The legislation was used to maintain the legislative framework governing Māori land ownership and Māori communities, to introduce new policies and fill policy gaps, and to create special exceptions to the legislative framework including special governance provisions.  The research provides evidence of the poor fit between the restrictive legislative framework governing Māori lives and Māori needs, and it demonstrates the inability of New Zealand’s legal system to deliver justice for Māori. Although many provisions attempted to ameliorate inequities, correct mistakes and resolve disputes, provisions often fell short of meeting the criteria for justice and are best described as taking important steps towards justice.</p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 191 ◽  
pp. 555-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Clarke

In March 1995, The China Quarterly published a special issue devoted to developments in the Chinese legal system. That issue canvassed a wide range of subjects: the legislative process, the implementation of legislation via the interpretive practices of courts and administrative agencies as well as through the enforcement of civil judgements, the personnel staffing the system in the role of legal advisers, criminal law and human rights, the key area of foreign trade and investment law, and finally China's place and role in the international legal order.


Author(s):  
Stéphane Bernatchez

AbstractIn the debate over the legitimacy of judicial review, Jürgen Habermas put forward two justifications for the role of constitutional judges within deliberative democracy. Judicial review must examine the procedural conditions of the legislative process and participate within a learning process that would ensure the continuous redefinition of the Constitution. This procedural concept of constitutional justice remains subject to the scrutiny of the other procedural theories. Whereas the theory of contextual proceduralization questions the concept of the legal judgment and more specifically the habermassian conception of the application of a legal norm, the systemic theory offers the conceptual framework required to explain this learning process and the function of judicial review in the legal system. Therefore, Habermas' procedural theory is extended in line with alternative theories of the proceduralization of law.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-229
Author(s):  
Ayoub Al-Jarbou

This article deals with the issue of the role of traditionalists and modernists on the development of the Saudi legal system. It presents and defines the two movements and evaluates their backgrounds and approaches. It also explores their impacts on the development of the Saudi legal system through evaluating their approaches on the following areas: legislative process, people's perspective toward applied laws, the judicial system, and legal education. The article concludes that it is clear from this evidentiary demonstration that the development of the Saudi legal system has been affected by the concurrent influences of traditionalist and modernist movements. The substance of enacted laws, legal education, the judicial systems, and people's attitude toward both Shariah and enacted laws has been negatively affected by the approaches of both movements. The paper provides for various approaches and solutions that address the problems of the system of legal education, judicial system, and legislative process. The paper suggests that these various approaches and solutions have to be adopted jointly; otherwise the confusion in the legal system will continue.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh M. Brennan ◽  
Collette E. Kirwan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and critique prior research on audit committees using a practice-theory lens. Research on audit committees has followed the same trajectory as early research on boards of directors, which has been criticised for its singular theoretical perspectives and methodologies that do not capture the complexity of real-world experiences/behaviours. Design/methodology/approach – The authors devise an analytical framework based on practice theory to conduct the review. The authors examine what audit committees should do (i.e. best practice) vs what audit committees actually do (i.e. actual activities in practice – praxis). Attributes of audit committee members, and the relationship dynamics relevant to their role execution (i.e. practitioners), are considered. Findings – Research on boards has found that over-emphasis on agency theory’s monitoring role negatively impacts boards’ effectiveness. The authors invoke other theories in examining what audit committees do in practice. The authors characterise the role of audit committees as oversight not monitoring. The authors question whether, similar to auditing, audit committees are blamist tools or are genuinely orientated towards supporting improvements in organisational management systems. The authors unpack the ritualistic ceremonial behaviours and symbolic endeavours vs substantive engagement by audit committees. The analytical framework also considers the “guardianship circle” around audit committees in the form of the key practitioners and their relationships: audit committee members, auditors and managers. Originality/value – Drawing on the analytical framework, the authors provide directions for further opportunities for research of audit committees.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.


Author(s):  
Natalia Rudenko ◽  
◽  
Tatiana Tuchak ◽  

The article analyzes the fiscal role of the excise tax on excisable goods (products) produced in Ukraine in the context of permanent changes in the tax legislative framework and within the framework of the global crisis through the coronavirus disease COVID-19. The concept of excise tax has been substantiated, a list of excisable products (goods) has been provided in accordance with legislative acts, the payers of this tax have been specified. The most important events and transactions that influenced the amount of tax revenues from excise tax are investigated. The authors believe that the main reason for the changes in the administration process and the receipt of the excise tax are the European integration transformations and the conditions of the global socio-economic crisis. Based on the difficult economic situation in the state, some legislative acts regulating the collection of excise tax from excisable products produced in the country were considered. It was revealed that a moratorium on the payment of excise tax was imposed on the territory of the studied state for a certain period. This event made its own adjustments to the proceeds from the payment of excise tax on excisable products (goods) produced domestically, and also allowed domestic producers to move from the place of economic stagnation. In Ukraine, they began to actively manufacture and sell antiseptic and disinfectants of their own production to protect citizens. According to the data of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine, the authors analyzed the indicators of tax revenues for each type of excisable products (goods) of domestic production. It was revealed from which products more tax was received during the study period. The main factors that influenced the receipts of excise tax from excisable goods produced on the territory of Ukraine in the period of 2019, as well as for 9 months of 2020, have been determined.


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