Posted on 03/16/2017 12:47:21 AM PDT by naturalman1975
A river in New Zealand has become the first in the world to be granted the same legal rights as a person.
The New Zealand parliament passed the bill recognising the Whanganui River, in North Island, as a living entity.
Long revered by New Zealand's Maori people, the river's interests will now be represented by two people.
The Maori had been fighting for over 160 years to get this recognition for their river, a minister said.
"I know the initial inclination of some people will say it's pretty strange to give a natural resource a legal personality," said New Zealand's Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson.
"But it's no stranger than family trusts, or companies or incorporated societies."
The Whanganui River, New Zealand's third-longest, will be represented by one member from the Maori tribes, known as iwi, and one from the Crown.
The recognition allows it to be represented in court proceedings.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
If the river is a person... can I marry it and take it home with me?
I got a lot of thirsty plants to water...
If I swam in the river, would that be considered rape?
Can I sue it if it floods me out? Can it go in either bathroom at Target?
Now my sink and bathtub will want this.
What about all the other rivers? No fair to them!
A lot of democrats have been considering a permanent move to New Zealand since Trumps election. Wonder if they know what they’re buying into. Take Portland Or. or Berkeley Ca. and blow it up 500K times as big. This may be what awaits you.
Pretty soon, all the animals, insects and overlooked mounds of dirt will have their own lawyers too!
No Moa, no Moa, in old Aeotearoa.
Can’t get ‘em, they’ve et ‘em,
They’re gone and there ain’t no moa.
The old Mori-Ori told me the story
Of how the Maori hunted
This fabulous bird, feared I have heard,
As big as you ever wanted.
Using their wits, they dug mighty pits
Into which the moa tumbled
And as you may think, they soon were extinct
While the poor Mori-Ori mumbled.
I thought that’s why they wanted to go to New Zealand. Canada, Australia, and the UK are all too conservative for them* (and they don’t want to do anything hard like learn a new language). That leaves them with New Zealand - and maybe Ireland.
(*This is, of course, very relative. It’s more accurate to say Canada, Australia, and the UK occasionally elect reasonably conservative governments, not that they currently really have them. In New Zealand, even the most conservative government they are going to get is party to things like this).
If it works for the Maori and the new Zealand government, then fine for them.
Like most indigenous peoples, the Maori received the short end of the stick when it came to colonization centuries back. I am not saying colonization was wrong...humans have been traveling to far flung places and edging out the inhabitants since time began.
Anyway if it brings peace of mind to the Maori and New Zealanders, then so be it.
The Yellow River in China and should be represented by I.P. Freely...
I say that if it is indeed human in the legal sense then it should be able to speak for itself in any decision. The idea of two appointed guardians seems a little duplicitous to me, really.
McCain has a dossier saying that the Volga once splashed Trump.
Wait until the dishwasher hears that the tub and sink were granted rights- you will open revolt in the house
What about really young humans (not born yet)?
In other news, the Mississippi has changed gender identity and will no longer be referred to as “Old Man River”.
Retarded. So can you sue the river running thru your land for trespassing?
Well, there goes the trip to NZ, as they seem to have come down with an extreme case of alternate reality ...
What if you go up this river without a paddle?
ROFL!!!!
Worse!!
Depends on where you entered :)
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