The full title of the act is: "An Act to Amend and Consolidate the: Laws relating to Lands in the Colony in which· the Maori Proprietary Customs still exist and to provide for the ascertainment of the Titles to such Lands and for Regulating the Descent, thereof and for other purposes." It replaced the Native Lands Act 1862 and created the
Native Land Courts. The 1862 legislation three years earlier was to "identify ownership interests in Māori land and to create individual
titles in place of customary communal ownership." The Native Land Court was also known as
Te Kooti Tango Whenua, The Land Taking Court. In 1865 the justice minister at the time
Henry Sewell said the aim of the act was "the detribalisation of the Māori – to destroy, if it were possible, the principle of communism upon which their social system is based and which stands as a barrier in the way of all attempts to amalgamate the Māori race into our social and political system."
Amendments A change to the Native Land Act in 1873 removed the ability for a hapū or iwi to be named as an owner of land. Other related legislation and amendments were: Native Townships Act 1895, Māori Lands Administration Act 1900, Māori Land Settlement Act 1905, Native Land Settlement Act 1907, Native Land Act 1909, Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act 1927, Native Land Amendment, Public Works Act 1928 and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act 1929. Native Land Courts were renamed Māori Land Court in 1947. == Impact ==