Taonga tuku iho
The court record

As a court of record, our key purpose is to accurately document the succession and management of Māori land. That information makes up the Māori Land Court record, which is the legal and official documentation of land ownership of whenua Māori. We are responsible for the ongoing care and protection of this taonga-tuku-iho.  

Since the establishment of the Native land Court 1865, we have collected and managed over 23 million documents, all of which are linked in some way to whenua and whānau Māori.

Our record holds information about court decisions, and the conversations about how those decisions are made. It also holds information about the whakapapa of landowners. It includes:

• Court files (the physical and electronic application file that holds all documents and correspondence about a matter in the Court)
• Minute books (the physical copy of all conversations and decisions made by the Court)
• Court orders (the decisions made by a Registrar or the Court)
• Instruments of alienation (the legal tool used to make changes to a land block)
• Block order files (the physical record of all dealings and decisions about a land block filed and held by the Court)
• Statements of accounts (the physical record of financial dealings for a trust or incorporation created by the Court filed and held by the Court)
• Maps and plans or copies (the physical record of any maps and/or plans filed and held by the Court)
• Any other documents, plans, materials, or records that a Judge or Registrar considers necessary to:
  • uphold the integrity of the Court’s historical record of title and ownership
  • enable the Court to function as a Court of record, or
  • comply with Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993
• any other Court record kept in electronic form.

A large amount of our record is accessible using our online portal, Pātaka Whenua. However, there are some records that are only available for viewing in hard copy at our offices, and some that are too fragile to be viewed at all.