ニュージーランドの海は誰が所有するのか : 前浜及び海底の法的位置付けを巡る問題と先住民族マオリ  [in Japanese] Who owns the sea of New Zealand? : Foreshore and Seabed Controversy and Maori  [in Japanese]

The tense relation between New Zealand government and the indigenous people, Maori heightened when the controversy over the legal status of the foreshore and seabed arose in 2003 and 2004. It was triggered by the decision of the Court of Appeal in June 2003, in which the Maori tribal groups in Marlborough were entitled to take their claims of customary ownership of the foreshore and seabed to the Maori Land Court. The government was shocked at the judicial judgment and soon announced to legislate the public ownership of the foreshore and seabed. Since then the controversy had rapidly grown and come to influence even the ethnical relationship in this country. This article aims to report and discuss chronologically the political process until the legislation and reactions to it from Maori, which included not only political but also social and judicial actions. I clarify the confronting views of the government and Maori in terms of ownership, customary rights, and courts' jurisdiction over the foreshore and seabed, and conclude that these confrontations were based on the definite difference between the concept of western modern territorial sea and the concept of indigenous territory.