A Pacific Island man sitting next to window at home on weekend relaxing and reading book in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
A Pacific Island man sitting next to window at home on weekend relaxing and reading book in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
How well did English criminal law apply to crimes committed in New Zealand’s precolonial and colonial eras? Often, not entirely fairly or legitimately, argues newly retired Court of Appeal judge David Collins in his authoritative and readable Fragile Foundations (THWUP). And its punitive application, particularly to Māori, continues to havean impact today, he says. “There was a belief among Europeans who settled in New Zealand that a harmonious society could only be forged if Māori and settlers alike rigidly obeyed the criminal laws of England.” The book examines stories “of settlers and soldiers, judges and juries, baby farmers and bigots, of murderers and of mistakes in the way justice was administered”. The population largely consisted of Māori, generally more tribally focused than nationally, adventurers, and settlers in search of a better Britain. But these islands were distant, not yet a Crown colony, Māori were not yet British subjects, and the arbiters of the law were often underpowered and under-resourced. English methods of conviction and punishment were often seen as cruel by Māori, against tikanga, and, now, barbaric. It was not until 1893, when a new act was passed, that NZ criminal law began to depart from that of England.
Fragile Foundations: The Application of English Criminal Law to Crimes Committed in Aotearoa New Zealand between 1826 - 1907 by David Collins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $70). Photo / supplied
Broadcaster, actor, writer and musician Matt Heath’s A Life Less Punishing (A&U, out May 28) begins with 1980s TV show The Greatest American Hero, about a hapless teacher, Ralph Hinkley, who can’t control the superhero suit he’s been given, and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. If you don’t see the connection, it happens in an epiphany for Heath, feeling sorry for himself on the shore of a South Island lake. “I will consume the writings, lectures and podcast appearances of great thinkers and regurgitate them into a personal Hinkley manual.” It’ll be a self-help book in its purest form, he says, written to help himself in times of trouble. In his chatty, easy style, he deals with anger, fear, loneliness, stress, boredom, grief, and so on.
A Life Less Punishing: 12 ways to love the live you've got by Matt Heath (A&U, $37.99) is out on Tuesday, May 28.
