The court was established in 1865 as the Native Land Court under the
Native Lands Act. The court was established to facilitate the purchase of Māori land by the Crown by converting collectively-owned Māori
customary land into Māori
freehold land. The Act created the Native Land Court to identify ownership interests in Māori land and to create individual titles (in place of customary communal title) that were recognisable in English law. Under the Native Lands Act 1865 only ten owners could be listed on land titles issued by the court. As outlined by Williams, "government policy from 1858 onwards ... sought to introduce a rapid individualisation of ancestral Māori land in order to ensure the availability of most of that land for settlement by
Pākehā settlers". A continuation of the native land policies of 1862, the intention outlined in the Preamble of the 1865 Act was "to encourage the extinction of such [native] proprietary customs". One means of fulfilling this intention was to limit to ten the number of owners able to be issued a Certificate of Title.
Francis Fenton was the chief judge from 1865 to 1882. The court caused major ructions within some
iwi as the court gave a democratic power to ordinary Māori that previously had been the domain of chiefs only. Judges often heard weeks of oral evidence to prove a claim to the land. Judges were totally independent from the government and their decisions were binding on the government. Judges often made their own rules as points of law arose but the general principle was equity. One of the most dramatic cases was the claim of
Ngāti Mutunga for their previous land in North Taranaki in 1870. The entire iwi abandoned the
Chatham Islands (which they had invaded in 1835) to come to the court hearing. The court encouraged Māori to sell land to private buyers. But the Crown remained the biggest purchaser. Most Māori-owned land was sold during the economic recession of the 1890s. 2.7 million acres was sold to the government and 400,000 acres to private individuals. The Native Lands (Validation of Title) Act 1892 was passed by the Liberal government to stop any type of fraudulent deals and to give security of title to purchasers. The Act guaranteed Māori a reasonable price for their land. The government on-sold most of its Māori land, often for a profit. The rationale behind the legislation was to unlock under-used land owned by Māori (and also pastoralists with vast landholdings) and sell it to "thrifty, hardworking industrious and independent hardworking individuals." The Liberals saw this as essential economic development. By 1939, almost 100 years after the
Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Māori retained just one percent of the South Island and nine percent of the North Island. Land losses continued as the 20th century progressed, again supported by legislation. During the 1950s and 1960s there was a major review of Māori land legislation. It was recognised that the previous legislative framework had had a detrimental effect on Māori society and the new legislation attempted to improve the situation by giving the a stronger focus on protecting Māori land from alienation. In 1954 "Māori" was substituted for "Native" in the court's name. In the 1980s the judiciary played a major role in redefining and elevating the constitutional position of the Treaty of Waitangi. In 1993, the
Te Ture Whenua Māori Act expanded the court's jurisdiction to allow it to hear cases on all matters related to
Māori land. In 2012, the Māori Land Court minute books dating between 1862 and 1900, held at the
Archives New Zealand National Office in Wellington, were included as an entry on the
UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Ngā Mahara o te Ao register. == Māori land status ==