ABSTRACT
This chapter explores an Indigenous court as an appropriate vehicle to address the issues for Indigenous peoples. The Māori legal system is sourced from Te Ao Māori or the Māori World, as opposed to the Māori Worldview, which can imply observing from a distance rather than a turning of the mind to the world in which Māori lived. Tikanga Māori is a contextual concept. The meaning is "straight, direct, tied in with the moral notions connotations of justice and fairness including notions of correct and right". The facilitation of any type of dispute between Māori parties is usually conducted by a rangatira, kuia or a kaumatua as an advocate. Within the criminal justice system, the concept of punishment is not always necessary. If one were to draw an analogy with Western concepts of jurisprudence, tikanga would lie midway between natural law and positivism. With respect to mental illness, there is a difference between Māori and non-Māori concepts of health.
