The Whanganui River as a Legal Person

Abstract

The Whanganui River in New Zealand will be granted legal personhood status when the Whanganui Iwi Deed of Settlement is passed into law. The river's transformation from property to a legal person has reconceptualised the legal person. It has pushed the boundaries of our understanding of what is regarded as property and what is not. This article examines the transformation of the river from property to an entity with legal personhood status and discusses how the river's legal personality has created a new category of legal person beyond the natural person and the corporation. First, the article discusses how the river's new legal personhood status challenges the anthropocentric view that the legal person should be confined to humans, and argues that because the legal person is a legal fiction it can be applied to nonhuman beings also. Second, the article discusses how society's values dictate what is given legal personhood status and what is seen as property. Third, it argues that the traditional Maori relationship to the river is responsible for the change in society's values and demonstrates how the Maori worldview characterises the legal personality of the river. Fourth, the article discusses the concept of corporate personality in an attempt to define the river's new legal personhood. Finally, the article considers whether the river's personhood status, capable of having rights and duties, will have sufficient strength to prevail over any other property interests in the river.