30 Jul 2021
RE CLARKSON [2021] NZHC 1968
- Citation
- [2021] NZHC 1968
- Court
- High Court
The Clarkson application for customary marine title is dismissed because the applicants failed to establish that the applicant group as advanced holds the specified area in accordance with tikanga and has exclusively used and occupied it since 1840 without substantial interruption; crucially the applicants did not demonstrate the necessary representative mandate and their whānau land ownership abutting the area was not sufficient to displace the wider hapū-based tikanga and overlapping claims (notably Ngāti Kere). The Court therefore cannot make the CMT orders sought.