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 edition has special significance, being published in the year that 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 1961, Canterbury College morphed into the University of Ca nterbury

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

In celebration of this significant milestone, this edition contains lectures

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

Court, Helen Winkelmann, Justice Christian Whata and Chief Judge 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 Christchurch Convention Centre. Her lecture reflects on the 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 Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) 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) discussed the concept of “Tikanga” providing

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 the Chief Judge of the Māori Land Cour t (at the time of her

speech she was Acting Chief Judge) on 8 July 2023, also at the ALAA conference.

Entitled “Legal Pluralism in Aotearoa | New Zealand”, her paper examines Māori

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.