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The Whanganui River as a Legal Person

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.1177/1037969x1403900309
Authors
Abigail Hutchison
Reported year
2014
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Documentary abstract — original language

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.

Identifiers

DOI
10.1177/1037969x1403900309
OPENALEX
W2612378748

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article
Natural entities mentioned
River

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

53 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary field provenance

Source-backed values and values with unresolved provenance are kept separately. Bibliographic provenance validates no legal claim.

Title
Documentary source reported
Publication
Documentary source reported
Authors
Documentary source reported
Document type
Documentary source reported
Jurisdiction
Not recorded
Court
Not recorded
Issuing authority
Not recorded
Publisher
Not recorded
DOI
Documentary source reported
ISBN
Not recorded
Official identifier
Not recorded
Source URL
Documentary source reported
Source-reported status
Not recorded
Amendment / repeal
Not recorded

Cite this reference

Abigail Hutchison. The Whanganui River as a Legal Person. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x1403900309

JSON · CSL-JSON · BibTeX · RIS · CSV · JSON-LD ·

APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.

APA
Abigail Hutchison. (2014). The Whanganui River as a Legal Person. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x1403900309
Chicago
Abigail Hutchison. The Whanganui River as a Legal Person. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x1403900309
ISO 690
Abigail Hutchison. The Whanganui River as a Legal Person. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x1403900309

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. The Whanganui River as a Legal Person. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-2ab31a05e60b903f6bb69cecb3b32c4b/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 7274f957ca21f399 · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Authors
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Year
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00
Source URL
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00

History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.

d894ffa2cdcf8203 · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00

6ff669204a83eb92 · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00

fe9aa72d81f73e3f · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00

7274f957ca21f399 · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.533629+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

Abigail Hutchison

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969x1403900309

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W2612378748

An authority link alone does not verify a legal claim. Abstracts and full texts remain subject to their source terms.

Documentary status

Documentary validated

Library

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