The role of the State and the individual, particularly in aspects relating to the land, are inexorably intertwined. The State provides the legislation relating to the use and even ownership of the land and controls that legislation. Land ownership in New Zealand have been under scrutiny as a result of a rapid loss of native biodiversity and urban expansion, coupled to a rise and acceptance of Maori land claims. These claims, recognised as being valid and justifiable, have been the subject of Resource Land Management Acts that have appeared to reconcile the incompatible goals between the state and the individual by being legally sound, culturally appropriate and environmentally sustainable. Whilst the earliest evidence of the impact of the state and the individual appears in central southern England, it is the uplands and marginal regions of the British Isles that provide evidence of the gradual evolution of land management practices.