David Williams

BA-LLB, VUW
BCL, Dip Theol, Oxon
PhD, Dar es Salaam

Contact details
Building 801, room 4.01
9 Eden Crescent
Auckland

Phone: +64 9 923 5639
Email: dv.williams@auckland.ac.nz

Available to students
Professor Williams is available to see students whenever his office door is open. If a person wishes to arrange a timed appointment, then please send him an e-mail message.

Profile

Dr David V Williams holds a personal chair as Professor of Law at The University of Auckland. After study at the Victoria University of Wellington, he was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. He has tertiary qualifications in history, law and theology including a PhD from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He has taught at the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Auckland. He was an independent researcher and barrister (1991-2001) specialising in legal history research relevant to Treaty of Waitangi claims.

For many years he was an activist in the Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE). He has worked with many iwi, but especially with Ngati Whatua Orakei from the days of the Bastion Point/Takaparawhau occupation in the 1970s through to the enactment of the Ngati Whatua Orakei Treaty Settlement Act 2012.

His publications include the Maori Land Legislation Manual (& database)(CFRT, 1994/1995); 'Te Kooti tango whenua': The Native Land Court 1864-1909 (Huia, 1999); Crown Policy Affecting Maori Knowledge Systems and Cultural Practices (Waitangi Tribunal, 2001); Matauranga Maori and Taonga (Waitangi Tribunal, 2001); joint editor and contributor to Waitangi Revisited: Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi (OUP, 2005); A simple nullity?: The Wi Parata case in New Zealand Law and History (AUP, 2011).

He teaches courses in ‘Law and Society’ and ‘Legal History’, and supervises a number of PhD students. He has held visiting positions at the University of Oxford and the University of Dar es Salaam.