pgm13@cam.ac.uk
Professor of Law & Legal History
CV / Biography
LL.B. (Hons), first class, from Victoria University of Wellington (NZ); LL.M. (“The Management of Native Lands in Canada and New Zealand: A Comparison”) from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada; Ph.D. (Cantab.) 1988 (awarded Yorke Prize 1989). Fellow of Sidney Sussex College 1984 - . Extensive publications in the field of common-law aboriginal rights; constitutional (imperial and colonial) history and historiography. Citation by courts (most recently and prominently, New Zealand's foreshore and seabed controversy (2003 -), also Takamore v Clark [2011] NZCA 587; Ross River Dena Council v A.-G (Canada) 2012 YKSC 4) and as leading expert witness for the defendants in the 'Urewera Four Trial' (2012) (billed as New Zealand's most expensive criminal trial) [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/africa/news/article.cfm?l_id=1&objectid=107941...
He is working on a new book An Empire of Law, an Empire of Office. During the early modern period, the British often applauded theirs as an Empire of Law. Yet for all the self-congratutory there was little our understanding of how this Empire was founded upon and articulated a sense of its own lawfulness. The book will look at the imperial prerogative and its deployment in a variety of historical (and geographical) settings and the 'presuppositions' of office by which British authorities constituted lawfulness at home and, more especially, abroad. The book will look at the intensification of office and the marshalling of emergent notions of subjecthood during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century with the rise of the fiscal-military British state. Office entailed more than imperial counter-practice to rights-based legalism iof a French and American sort but also provided a frame for the myriad streams of discursive practice of this period and their contesting, ranging from the Parliamentary impeachments of Hastings, Dundas, vilificaton of the Norman Yoke, through those of politeness and gentility. The dynamic in the history of (British and imperial) public law in this period was not that of law a higher-order, external abstraction nor driven by any modish constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers. Rather, public law thought (still mostly inside the era of personal kingship) treated law as an embodiment rather than as an abstraction. Parliamentary intervention was largely to shore up the imperial prerogative and was one sphere where (in the period between the Bill of Rights and the accession of Victoria) the Whig imagery of a gradual whittling down was largely inapplicable.
Extensive presentations and public lectures in the UK and abroad (Canada and New Zealand especially), including practitioners' workshops.
Publications
Books
"The aboriginal rights of the New Zealand Maori at common law" (Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, Whakatane, New Zealand)
Published:
May 2012
Publisher:
Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, Whakatane, New Zealand
"Aboriginal Title: The Modern Jurisprudence of Tribal Land Rights" (Oxford University Press)
Published:
Aug 2011
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
"Aboriginal Societies and the Common Law" (Oxford University Press)
Published:
Dec 2004
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN 13:
978-0-19-825248-1
"The Maori Magna Carta. New Zealand Law and the Treaty of Waitangi" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)
Published:
Sep 1991
Publisher:
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991
Articles
""Aboriginal Title: Travelling from (or to?) an Antique Land?”" (2015) 48:3 University of British Columbia Law Review 793-820
Citation:
(2015) 48:3 University of British Columbia Law Review 793-820
Published:
Oct 2016
""The Crown’s relationship with tribal peoples and the legal dynamics for the resolution of historical and contemporary claims” " (2015) 46 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 875.
Citation:
(2015) 46 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 875.
Published:
Sep 2015
""Time whereof – Memory, History and Law in the Jurisprudence of Aboriginal Rights”" (2014) 77:2 University of Saskatchewan Law Review 207-240
Citation:
(2014) 77:2 University of Saskatchewan Law Review 207-240
Published:
Sep 2014
"Sovereignty in Australasia: Comparatively Different Histories" (2009) 13:1 Legal History 57 - 92.
Citation:
(2009) 13:1 Legal History 57 - 92.
Published:
Jan 2010
"Mike Taggart: In Memoriam" (2009) 7 New Zealand Journal of Public and International law 185 – 188.
Citation:
(2009) 7 New Zealand Journal of Public and International law 185 – 188.
Published:
Jan 2010
""Sir John Salmond and the moral agency of the state"" (2007) 38 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 743-70
Citation:
(2007) 38 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 743-70
Published:
Dec 2007
""’Treaty Principles": Constitutional relations inside a conservative jurisprudence"" (2007) 38 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 39-72 (Memorial edition for the late Lord Robin Cooke of Thorndon).
Citation:
(2007) 38 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 39-72 (Memorial edition for the late Lord Robin Cooke of Thorndon).
Published:
Dec 2007
""New Dawn to Cold Light: Courts and Common Law Aboriginal Rights"" [2005] New Zealand Law Review 485 – 532 [published also in Bigwood, ed Public Interest Litigation, infra]
Citation:
[2005] New Zealand Law Review 485 – 532 [published also in Bigwood, ed Public Interest Litigation, infra]
Published:
Aug 2005
""Setting the Statutory Compass: The Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004"" (2005) 3 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 255-83
Citation:
(2005) 3 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 255-83
Published:
Mar 2005
""What a difference a Treaty makes – the pathway of aboriginal rights jurisprudence in New Zealand public law"" (2004) 15 Public Law Review 87-102.
Citation:
(2004) 15 Public Law Review 87-102.
Published:
Sep 2004
""Aboriginal Title in New Zealand: A Retrospect and Prospect"" (2004) 2 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 139-202
Citation:
(2004) 2 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 139-202
Published:
Mar 2004
""Tales of constitutional origin and Crown sovereignty in New Zealand"" (2002), 52 University of Toronto Law Journal pp 69 – 99.
Citation:
(2002), 52 University of Toronto Law Journal pp 69 – 99.
Published:
Mar 2002
""Sovereignty this century – Maori and the common law constitution"" (2000), 31 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review pp 187-214 (law school centenary edition)
Citation:
(2000), 31 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review pp 187-214 (law school centenary edition)
Published:
Jun 2000
""The common law status of colonies and aboriginal 'rights': how lawyers and historians treat the past"" (1998), 61(2) Saskatchewan Law Review 393 - 429. Reprinted 2014 in DelMar & Lobban (eds) Legal Theory and Legal History Vol 4 (Ashgate, Essays in Contemporary Legal Theory, 2nd series)
Citation:
(1998), 61(2) Saskatchewan Law Review 393 - 429. Reprinted 2014 in DelMar & Lobban (eds) Legal Theory and Legal History Vol 4 (Ashgate, Essays in Contemporary Legal Theory, 2nd series)
Published:
Mar 1998
""Law, History and the Treaty of Waitangi"" (1997), 31 New Zealand Journal of History 38-52
Citation:
(1997), 31 New Zealand Journal of History 38-52
Published:
Jul 1997
""Constitutional Voices"" (1996), 26 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 499-529.
Citation:
(1996), 26 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 499-529.
Published:
Mar 1996
""The legal basis of Maori claims against the Crown"" (1988) 18 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 1-20.
Citation:
(1988) 18 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 1-20.
Published:
Mar 1988
""Aboriginal servitudes and the Land Transfer Act 1952"" (1986), 16 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 313-335.
Citation:
(1986), 16 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 313-335.
Published:
Mar 1986
""Maori Fishing Rights and the North American Indian"" (1985) 6 Otago Law Review 62-94.
Citation:
(1985) 6 Otago Law Review 62-94.
Published:
Mar 1985
""The legal status of Maori fishing rights in tidal water"" (1984), 14 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review pp. 247-73
Citation:
(1984), 14 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review pp. 247-73
Published:
May 1984
""Aboriginal title in New Zealand courts"" (1984), 2 University of Canterbury Law Review 235-265.
Citation:
(1984), 2 University of Canterbury Law Review 235-265.
Published:
Apr 1984
Book Chapters
"“Imperial Law – the Legal Historian and the Trials and Tribulations of an Imperial Past” ", The Oxford Handbook of Legal History (Oxford University Press), pp. 17
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Pages:
17
Published Date:
Aug 2018
"Anthropology on Trial: the Hindmarsh Island Bridge controversy (1993 – 2001)", Comparative Law and Anthropology (Research Handbooks in Comparative Law series) (Elgar Publishing) (Ed), pp. 10
Publisher:
Elgar Publishing
Pages:
10
Published Date:
Dec 2017
"A Common Law Biography of Section 35" (Ed), From Recognition to Reconciliation: Essays on the Constitutional Entrenchment of Aboriginal and Treaty Right (University of Toronto Press) (Ed), pp. 27
Publisher:
University of Toronto Press
Pages:
27
Published Date:
Sep 2016
""‘The most decorous veil which legal ingenuity can weave’: Britain’s imperial constitution and the annexation of New Zealand (1840)"" in Kelly Grotke and Markus Prutsch, editors, Constitutionalism, Legitimacy, and Power: Nineteenth-Century Experiences (Oxford University Press) (Ed), pp. 300-320
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Pages:
300-320
Published Date:
Sep 2014
"Settler Sovereignty and the Shape-shifting Crown" in Tim Rowse and Lisa Ford, Between Indigenous and Settler Governance (Routledge) (Ed), pp. 23-34
Publisher:
Routledge
Pages:
23-34
Published Date:
Apr 2014
""A Pretty Gov[ernment]!": The ‘Confederation of United Tribes’ and Britain’s quest for imperial order in the New Zealand islands during the 1830s"" in Lauren Benton and Richard Ross, Legal Pluralism and Empires, 1500-1850 (New York University Press) (Ed), pp. 233-260
Publisher:
New York University Press
Pages:
233-260
Published Date:
May 2013
"The Politics of Historiography and the Taxonomies of the Colonial Past: Law, History and the Tribes" in C Stebbings and A Musson, editors, Making Legal History: Approaches and Methodology (Cambridge University Press) (Ed), pp. 164-195
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Pages:
164-195
Published Date:
Jun 2012
""William Pember Reeves (1857-1932): Lawyer-Politician, Historian and ‘Rough Architect of the New Zealand State"" in Shaunnagh Dorsett and Ian Hunter, editors, Law and Politics in British Colonial Thought – Transpositions of Empire (New York: Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History, 2010) (Ed), pp. 187-208
Publisher:
New York: Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History, 2010
Pages:
187-208
Published Date:
Nov 2010
"The Property Rights of Tribes" in Martin Dixon, Modern Studies in Property Law Volume 5 (Hart Publishing) (Ed), pp. 433-472
Publisher:
Hart Publishing
Pages:
433-472
Published Date:
Dec 2009
ISBN 13:
978-1841139609
"A History of the Modern Jurisprudence of Aboriginal Rights – Some Observations on the Journey So Far" in D Dyzenhaus, M Hunt and G Huscroft, A Simple Common Lawyer: Essays in Honour of Michael Taggart (Hart Publishing) (Ed), pp. 209-232
Publisher:
Hart Publishing
Pages:
209-232
Published Date:
Feb 2009
ISBN 13:
978-1841139234
"New Dawn to Cold Light: Courts and Common Law Aboriginal Rights" in Bigwood, Rick, Public Interest Litigation (Lexis Nexis) (Ed), pp. 25-68
Publisher:
Lexis Nexis
Pages:
25-68
Published Date:
Apr 2006
"Living with Rights Aboriginally: Constitutionalism and Maori in the 1990s" in Michael Belgrave, Mereta Kawharu and David Williams, Waitangi Revisited – Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi (Oxford University Press) (Ed), pp. 283-307
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Pages:
283-307
Published Date:
Mar 2004
ISBN 13:
978-0195584004
"A History of Crown Sovereignty" in Andrew Sharp and PG McHugh, Histories, Power and Loss – Uses of the Past – A New Zealand Commentary (Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams Books, 2001) (Ed), pp. 189-211
Publisher:
Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams Books, 2001
Pages:
189-211
Published Date:
Aug 2001
ISBN 13:
978-1877242205
"From Sovereignty Talk to Settlement Time: the constitutional setting of aboriginal claims in the 1990s" in Paul Havemann, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Australia, Canada and New Zealand (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1999) (Ed), pp. 447-467
Publisher:
Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1999
Pages:
447-467
Published Date:
Aug 1999
ISBN 13:
978-0195584073
"Australasian Narratives of Constitutional Foundation" in K Neumann, N Thomas and H Ericksen, Quicksands – Foundational Histories in Australia and New Zealand (UNSW Press) (Ed), pp. 98-114
Publisher:
UNSW Press
Pages:
98-114
Published Date:
Apr 1999
ISBN 13:
978-0868406336
"A Tribal Encounter: The Presence and Properties of Common Law Language in the Discourse of Colonisation in the Early-Modern Period" in Jonathan Lamb and Alex Calder, Voyages and Beaches Pacific Encounters, 1769-1840 (University of Hawaii Press) (Ed), pp. 114-131
Publisher:
University of Hawaii Press
Pages:
114-131
Published Date:
Mar 1999
ISBN 13:
978-0824820398
""Aboriginal Identity and Relations in North America and Australasia"" in P Sarr, Kokiri Ngatahi: Living Relationships - The Treaty of Waitangi in the New Millenium (Victoria University Press) (Ed), pp. 107-186
Publisher:
Victoria University Press
Pages:
107-186
Published Date:
Mar 1998
ISBN 13:
978-0864733306
"Contractualism and Co-existence in an Inter-cultural Context: The Management of Crown Relations with Aboriginal Peoples" in G Davis and A Yeatman, The New Contractualism (Melbourne: Macmillan Education, 1997) (Ed), pp. 198-216
Publisher:
Melbourne: Macmillan Education, 1997
Pages:
198-216
Published Date:
Aug 1997
"The Historiography of New Zealand's Constitutional History" in PA Joseph, Essays on the Constitution (Brookers) (Ed), pp. 344-367
Publisher:
Brookers
Pages:
344-367
Published Date:
Aug 1995
"The lawyer's concept of sovereignty and a legal history for New Zealand" in W Renwick, Sovereignty and Indigenous Rights (Victoria University Press) (Ed), pp. 170-189
Publisher:
Victoria University Press
Pages:
170-189
Published Date:
Aug 1991
"Legal reasoning and the Treaty of Waitangi" in Graham Oddie, Justice, Ethics and New Zealand Society (OUP, 1990) (Ed), pp. 137-58
Publisher:
OUP, 1990
Pages:
137-58
Published Date:
Aug 1990
"Constitutional theory and aboriginal claims" in IH Kawharu, Waitangi: Maori and Pakeha Perspectives in the Treaty of Waitangi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989) (Ed), pp. 25-63
Publisher:
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989
Pages:
25-63
Published Date:
Aug 1989
Conference Papers
"A comporting sovereign and the legalism of imperial authority: the ‘unremitted solicitude’ of Crown protection and transitional tribalism in colonial Upper Canada of the 1830s" (International Law, Religion and Empire, led by Professor Martti Koskenniemi (Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, and funded by the Academy of Finland) [publication 2015] presented Berlin)
Published:
Apr 2014
Conference:
International Law, Religion and Empire, led by Professor Martti Koskenniemi (Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, and funded by the Academy of Finland) [publication 2015] presented Berlin
"Time whereof – Memory, History and Law in the jurisprudence of aboriginal rights" (Centennial Lecture, Law Society of Saskatchewan, publication forthcoming Saskatchewan Law Review)
Published:
Oct 2013
Conference:
Centennial Lecture, Law Society of Saskatchewan, publication forthcoming Saskatchewan Law Review
"Whitefella's property: section 35, Constitution Act 1982 (Canada) and the proprietary paradigm"" (Paper presented to the ‘35@30’ Conference commemorating thirty years of the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution)
Published:
Oct 2012
Conference:
Paper presented to the ‘35@30’ Conference commemorating thirty years of the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution
""A Pretty Gov.!": The ‘Confederation of United Tribes’ and Britain’s quest for imperial order in the New Zealand islands during the 1830s" (Paper presented at "New Perspectives on Legal Pluralism" Friday, 23 April 2010, Newberry Library, Chicago)
Published:
Oct 2010
Conference:
Paper presented at "New Perspectives on Legal Pluralism" Friday, 23 April 2010, Newberry Library, Chicago
"‘The most decorous veil which legal ingenuity can weave’: the British annexation of New Zealand (1840)" (presented to The Research Project Europe 1815-1914: Working Group Constitutions and Legitimisation of Power, University of Helsinki in May 2010 (for re-presentation April 2011).)
Published:
Oct 2010
Conference:
presented to The Research Project Europe 1815-1914: Working Group Constitutions and Legitimisation of Power, University of Helsinki in May 2010 (for re-presentation April 2011).
Facebook 
Twitter 
Instagram 
YouTube 
Flickr 
Email