He mea haina te tiriti e te Māori me te Pākehā i te tau 1840. Ehara tonu te Tiriti o Waitangi i te ture. Engari mai noa i te tau 1975 ka whakaurua ōna mātāpono ki ngā ture maha. Ko te ture tuatahi ki te whakauru i ngā mātāpono o te tiriti ko te Ture Tiriti o Waitangi i te tau 1975 i hua ake ai te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi. I runga i tēnei ture ka āhei te Māori ki te hora kerēme ki te taraipiunara mō ngā kaupapa me ngā mahi (me ētahi āhuatanga atu) a te Karauna kāore i te hāngai ki ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti.
Mai i te tau 1975 he maha noa atu ngā ture ka whaiwhai i ngā mātāpono o te tiriti, ka mutu he whakamātautanga i te whai mārama o te Tiriti o Waitangi i ēnei rā. E whakauru ana ngā mātāpono o te tiriti ki:
He mutunga kore ngā mātāpono tiriti, ka mutu kei roto i ngā kupu whānui ngā mātāpono e whakamāramatia ana. Engari kāore e whakaurua ngā tuhinga tonu o te tiriti, nā runga i te rerekē o te whakamārama Ingarihi, Māori hoki, me te ara ake o ētahi taupatupatu. I te tau 1983 ka whakatau te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, ‘He nui kē ake te wairua o te tiriti tēnā i ngā kupu o roto i ōna upoko, nā reira, kaua e matawhāiti te titiro ki ngā aronga kupu, kaua hoki e matawhāiti ngā whakamārama mō aua upoko.’1
I te tau 1987 ka kī ake a Kaiwhakawā Robin Cooke, ‘he hua tipu te tiriti kāore anō kia kōhure noa ōna aria ake … e āta tipu ana ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko tētahi mea kē he whāiti noa iho ōna tirohanga.’2
Nā te mea i hainatia te tiriti i te tau 1840, ka noho anō tēnei hei take kāore i whakaurua te tiriti ki ngā tuhinga ā-ture. Otirā ka pā ōna kupu ki ngā kaupapa i waenganui i te Māori me te Karauna o tērā wā. E whai panga ai te tiriti ki ngā kaupapa a te Karauna me te Māori i ēnei rā ka ngana te taraipiunara me ngā kōti ki te whakamārama i ngā huatau pū me ngā āwhero maha o te tiriti, otirā ki te whakahāngai i ngā mātāpono ki tēnā kerēme ki tēnā kerēme. Kua kōhatutia ētahi o ēnei mātāpono i ēnei wā, ko ētahi kua roa kē e tipu haere ana. He kaupapa tohetohe tonu ētahi mātāpono.
Nō te kēhi i te tau 1987 kātahi anō ka whakamārama hōhonutia ngā mātāpono tiriti. Ko te tono tērā a te Kaunihera Māori ki te Kōti Pīra mena tonu i te takahi ngā mahi a te kāwanatanga i ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi. E whakautua ai te pātai me whakatau te kōti he aha ia aua mātāpono. E ai ki tētahi o ngā kaiwhakawā mō taua kēhi a Kaiwhakawā Robin Cooke, ‘tērā pea koinei tētahi o ngā kēhi nui rawa kua tau ki mua ki te aroaro o tētahi kōti i Aotearoa nei.’1 I runga i te whakatau a te kōti ka paraia te huarahi mō ētahi atu pūrongo taraipiunara.
Anei ētahi o ngā mātāpono i whakamāramatia i te kēhi whenua o te tau 1987:
I muri i te kēhi whenua o te tau 1987, arā anō ngā kēhi i whai wāhi ai ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko ēnei ētahi o aua kēhi:
I te tau 1994 ka kī ake tētahi kaiwhakawā o te Kōti Teitei, ‘kāore e kore he hua pai tō ngā mātāpono ki te Karauna, otirā kia ngana tonu ia ki te tiaki i te Māori i raro i te Tiriti’.7
Mai i te Ture Tiriti o Waitangi 1975 he maha atu ngā ture kua tūtohu, kua tuarua, ā, kua whakawhanake hoki i ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi. I te tau 2011 neke atu i te 30 ngā wāhanga ture e pā ana ki ngā mātāpono o te tiriti. Ko te nuinga o ēnei ture i pā ki ngā rawa whenua, heoi, arā anō ētahi atu pērā i te Ture Mātauranga o te tau 1989.
Ētahi tauira o te whakaurunga o ngā mātāpono ki ētahi ture:
I roto i te Ture Hao Ika 1983 ko tētahi wāhanga ārahi e kī ana, kore rawa taua ture e whakawaimeha i ngā mana hao ika o te Māori. I te tau 1990 ka whakapae Te Rūnanga o Muriwhenua kei te takahi te pūnaha hao ika (o te tau 1986) i tēnei ture ārahi. Ka whakaae te Kōti Pīra ki tā te rūnanga, ā, ka kī rātou he taonga ora te tiriti ki Aotearoa nei. Nā te murunga whakaaro kore o ngā ika i ngā tauranga ika Māori tūturu, kua ara mai he āhuatanga kīhai i mōhiotia i te hainatanga o te tiriti
I te tau 1991 ka rangahau te taraipiunara i ngā nawe tiriti o te iwi o Te Waipounamu o Ngāi Tahu.
Ko te ingoa kārangaranga o te kēreme i whakatakotoria e Ngāi Tahu ki te aroaro o te taraipiunara ko ‘ngā rākau teitei e iwa’. He ingoa tēnei ka puea ake i ngā kerēme matua e iwa a Ngāi Tahu ki te Karauna. E ai ki te pūrongo a Te Rōpū Whakamana ka taea tonutia te whakauru ngā mātāpono tiriti ki ērā atu ture, nātemea ‘kua tūturu ngā mātāpono ki Aotearoa nei. Otirā kei roto tonu i ngā mātāpono te toi tuakiri o Aotearoa e takoto ana.’1
I tīkina e te pūrongo (toru puka) muru whenua a Ngāi Tahu i te tau 1987 ki ngā kōrero mātāpono tiriti o te kēhi whenua 1987 hei wāhanga o ōna whakamārama. I takea mai i tēnei pūrongo ko te whakapaparanga mātāpono tiriti i puea anō ki ngā kerēme maha i ngā tau ka hori.
I roto i te pūrongo a Ngāi Tahu ka kōrero te taraipiunara mō te mātāpono pū kei roto i te tiriti, arā te ‘mātāpono o te tauhokohoko’. Kei roto noa i te mātāpono o te tauhokohoko ko te utu – ‘ko te utu mō te mana kāwanatanga ko te mana a te Māori kia pupuri tonu te tino rangatiratanga a ngā iwi ki runga ki ō rātou whenua me ō rātou taonga katoa’.2
Ka tūtohu anō te taraipiunara i ētahi atu mātāpono tiriti:
I te tau 1989 ko te kāwanatanga Reipa te kāwanatanga tuatahi ki te whakatakoto i ētahi mātāpono hei ārahi i ana mahi e pā ana ki te tiriti.
Ko ngā mātāpono ēnei:
Tae noa ki te tau 2011, kāore tētahi kāwanatanga atu i whakamārama i ētahi mātāpono tiriti hou, engari i hoki atu ētahi (pērā i a Nāhinara i te tau 1991) ki ngā mātāpono i puta i te tau 1989.
Kua puta te whakahē a ētahi Māori ki ngā mātāpono hanga a te kāwanatanga, me te whakapae kei te hanga houtia e ia te Tiriti i raro i te tirohanga kotahi. Heoi ka kaupare tonu te Pirimia a David Lange i ngā tao kupu mō ngā mātāpono, ā, ka whakahokia ‘ko ōna kaupapa he āwhina i te kāwanatanga ki te whakatau take e pā ana ki te Tiriti.’1
I te whakaurunga tuatahi o ngā mātāpono tiriti ki te ture i te tau 1975, ka whakatau tētahi māngai Paremata ‘mā aua mātāpono e whakapātaritari, e wehewehe te motu’.2 I te tau 2006 ka hora a Aotearoa Tuatahi i te Pire Whakakore i ngā Mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi’. Ko te matū o te pire ‘ko te whakakore i te hapa i pā ki ngā iwi katoa i te tau 1986, arā, i te whakaurunga o ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi ki roto ki te ture.’ Ka hinga taua pire, ā, ka noho tonu ngā kōrero mō ngā mātāpono tiriti ki roto ki te ture. Ko te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, ko ngā kōti rā hoki ka whakamārama haere tonu i ngā mātāpono o te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Hayward, Janine. ‘Flowing from the Treaty’s words: the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.’ In The Waitangi Tribunal: Te Roopu Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, he mea ētita nā Janine Hayward rāua ko Nicola Wheen, 29–40. Te Whanganui-a-Tara: Bridget Williams Books, 2004.
Hayward, Janine. ‘The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.’ Kei roto i te National overview Vol. 2, he mea ētita nā Alan Ward, 475–494. Te Whanganui-a-Tara: Waitangi Tribunal and GP Publications, 1997.
McHugh, Paul G. ‘”Treaty principles”: constitutional relations Inside a conservative jurisprudence.’ Victoria University Law Review 39, no. 1 (2008): 39–72.
Palmer, Matthew. The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s law and constitution. Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2008.
Principles for Crown Action on the Treaty of Waitangi, 1989. Wellington: Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit, Historical Documents Series (H06), 2011.