Pre-European Southern Cook Islands Customary Law, History and Society

Te au Peu Tupuna, Te au Papa Ture, Te au Papa‘anga Kōrero e te ‘Akaruruanga ‘Okota‘i i roto i te Pā ‘Enua Tonga o te Kūki ‘Airani i te Tuātau Ta‘ito i mua ake tae mai ei te papa‘ā

The customary law of the Southern Cook Islands before Christianity, and how it can be known. This volume is the foundation of the series: a reader of Volume Four can turn back to it and find, chapter by chapter, what the custom was before the court began.

NZ$34.50

NZ$30 plus GST. E-book on Google Play, read-only. Ron Crocombe and Ross Holmes.

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What is in it

Chapter 1 introduces the islands and their people. Chapter 2 is about the records: what exists, where it is, and how much of it has never been read. Chapter 3 is about oral tradition, and how a history that was never written can be used as evidence.

Chapters 4 and 5 tell how the Southern Group and then Rarotonga were found and settled, from about AD 650. Chapters 6 and 7 say what customary law is, why it matters, and how courts in other countries have learned to find it and apply it.

Chapters 8, 10 and 11 are the heart of the volume: how rights to land were acquired, held, used and lost, and what land was for. Chapter 9 is about conquest and warfare, and what they did and did not do to rights in land.

Chapters 12 to 16 take the islands one at a time, Aitutaki, Atiu, Mangaia, Ma‘uke and Mitiaro, because each had a law of its own and the courts have too often treated the custom of one island as the custom of all.

How the series began

In 2006 June Baudinet asked me to act for her family, Ngāti Raina, and others, to set aside land decisions made by Walter Gudgeon in 1903 and 1908. I sought Ron Crocombe’s counsel. He advised that such a challenge would need more historical evidence than had ever been put before a Land Court.

That advice began the research behind this series. The first editions of Volumes One, Two and Three were published in 2014 and 2015. After they were published, Graeme Crocombe gave me the comments his father had written on the manuscript in 2008, which had not reached me in Ron Crocombe’s lifetime. Every chapter of this edition has been revised in their light.

The chapters, and the second-edition previews

Second edition, October 2026. The Preface, Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 can be read now, free of charge for a limited time while the Makea Nui Ariki title case is before the High Court. Every other chapter has a preview, its opening pages, watermarked and read-only, and can be bought as a PDF for NZ$11.50 (NZ$10 plus GST); the whole volume is NZ$57.50. Where a chapter has a page of its passages in full, the full text of what the chapter summarises is one click away. If you find any typographical errors please let us know so that we can correct them.

Chapter	Title, in English and Cook Islands Māori	Read	Buy
1	Introduction‘Akamārama‘anga	Read (PDF) The passages in full	Free
2	The evolution of, and sources of, material dealing with Southern Cook Islands customary law, history and societyTe akamata‘anga e te ngai i rauka mai ei te Papa korero e te peu tupuna o te Pa Enua Tonga o te Kūki Airani	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
3	Southern Cook Islands oral traditionsTe au kōrero o te Pa Enua Tonga i te Kūki Airani	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
4	The discovery and early settlement of the Southern Cook Islands (other than Rarotonga)Te kitea‘anga e te no‘oia‘anga o te Pa Enua Tonga o te Kūki Airani	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
5	The discovery and early settlement of RarotongaTua taito no te au tangata tei no‘o mua ki Tumu-te-varovaro	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
6	Southern Cook Islands customary lawĀkono‘anga Pa Enua Tonga o te Kūki Airani	Read (PDF) The passages in full	Free in full for a limited time
7	The importance of customary laws	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
8	The acquisition of customary rights to land	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
9	Conquest and warfare in the Southern Cook Islands prior to ChristianityTe au tuātau tamaki e te ‘ōnure‘au i mua ake ka tae mai ei te Evangelia	Preview (PDF) The passages in full	Buy, NZ$11.50
10	Rights to land	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
11	The utilisation and role of land in the Southern Cook Islands	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
12	Aitutakian customary law	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
13	Atiuan customary law	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
14	Mangaian customary law	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
15	Ma‘ukean customary law	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50
16	Mitiaran customary law	Preview (PDF)	Buy, NZ$11.50