New Zealand's oldest property claim, known as the Nelson Tenths, will go back to the High Court tomorrow after nearly 180 years.
It's the latest step in a long battle by the descendants of Māori landowners who first occupied Nelson to have land promised returned to them.
Nelson Tenths working committee member and descendant Kerensa Johnston said the agreement dates back to 1845 when Europeans first settled.
"The establishment of Nelson was agreed to by our families, the customary owners of Nelson, on the basis of two key conditions – that one-tenth of what would become the Nelson settlement would be reserved for us in perpetuity or forever.
"The second condition that all of our homes, our papakāinga, our sacred places, our wahi tapu and our cultivation lands would be protected from settlement."
The dispute centres on a deal with Māori landowners in the 1840s to purchase 150,000 acres of land. (Source: 1News)
But that didn't happen. Instead the customary Māori landowners only got a fraction of what was agreed to and over time, even that was whittled down.
"It's been now over 180 years that we've been advocating for the return of that land," Johnston said.
Some of the land covered in the original agreement has since been sold, and the case is only related to land still owned by the Crown.
Rōpata Taylor is a descendant of all four iwi that were part of the Nelson Tenths agreement.
"The guts of this case is really about the Crown to restore its mana and return the land to the rightful owners," he said.
The case has been heard in various courts in recent years, and in 2017 the Supreme Court found in the decendants' favour, sending it back to the High Court.
"It feels like the end is in sight for us. And at the end of the day, all we really want is for our land to be returned to us – that's all we're asking," he said.
"The Crown is in occupation of our property and it needs to do the right thing and return it."
A 10-week hearing will begin at the Wellington High Court tomorrow. It's an unusual case as it's based on trust law and that the Crown breached the original agreement.
Auckland University law professor Claire Charters said what it essentially comes down to is a broken promise.
"It's one of the more significant Māori cases of our time because it's about enforcing the Crown's legal duties to customary owners, to Māori owners of land," she said.
The High Court hearing will work to sort out three key issues – the extent of the breach, any defences from the Crown, and potential remedies.
"From the Crown's perspective, they're not contesting the breach issue but what they're saying is that it's, I guess, covered by political remedies that have been provided over time," she said.
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