Editoral - Canterbury Law Review 2023

• Author: Toni Collins/W John Hopkins
• Position: Editor, Canterbury Law Review/Chair of the Board of Canterbury Law Review Trust
• Pages: 1-3

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Editorial

EDITORIAL

CANTERBURY LAW REVIEW

2023

It is with g reat pleasure that we pr esent the 2023 edition of the C anterbury Law

Review. This ed ition has spe cial sign ificance, b eing published i n the year t hat Te

Whare Wā nanga o Waita ha | University of Cant erbury celebrates 150 yea rs since its

founding i n 1873 as Cante rbury College , the first cons tituent colle ge of the Universit y

of New Zeala nd and only the secon d institut ion in Aotearoa t o provide terti ary-level

education. In 1 961, Canter bury College m orphed into t he University of Ca nterbury

and beca me an independent univers ity in its own ri ght.

In celebration of t his sign ificant mi lestone, th is edition cont ains lec tures

given by invi ted guests during t he year, including the Ch ief Justice of the Supreme

Court, Hele n Winkelma nn, Just ice Chris tian What a and Chief Judg e of the Māori

Land Cour t, Dr Caren Fox, alongside t he Review’s traditiona l high qualit y general

article s. In total, t his 2023 edition cont ains 10 publicat ions and a book review.

The first is a publ ic lecture given by Chie f Justice Helen Winkelma nn as part of

the progra mme of events celebratin g the 150th annivers ary, given on 13 July 2023 at

Te Pae Chris tchurch Convent ion Centre. Her lectu re reflects on t he challenge of

educating a le gal profession fit for the nex t 150 years. In doing so, s he argues that we

need to look at who we are t eaching and the nee d to educate a more diverse cohor t

of students t han we currently a re but also consider what we a re teaching, t o ensure

the teach ing of law and lega l skills meet s legal need (for example , through the u se of

legal cli nics) and enables access t o justice.

The second is the key note speech given by Ju stice Chris tian What a on 7 July 2023

at the Aust ralasia n Law Academics A ssociation (A LA A) conference held at the Te

Whare Wā nanga o Wait aha | Universit y of Canterbur y. Justice Whata (a Justic e of the

High Cour t and Law Commissioner) di scussed the concep t of “Tika nga” providin g

an account of t ikanga and s tate law and an ex planation of the fr amework of tikang a

as a normati ve and legal syst em.

Justice Wh ata’s contribution is followe d by a speech, on a related t opic, delivered

by Dr Caren Fox, now t he Chief Judge of the Mā ori Land Cour t (at the time of her

speech she was A cting Ch ief Judge) on 8 July 2023, a lso at the AL AA conferenc e.

Entitled “ Legal Plur alism i n Aotearoa | New Ze aland”, her paper exa mines Māor i

law as a set of pri nciples and values that m ay be relevant considerat ions in decision

maki ng, may be required to b e weighed in decision mak ing or may even be legally

enforceable.