The Maori Language Commission says that a dudge's decision to stop a lawyer from speaking te reo Maori in the Waitangi Tribunal belittles the language's status.
The commission was a party to a judicial review of the Tribunal's decision at the High Court in Wellington yesterday.
A year ago, the presiding officer of the Tribunal's King Country inquiry Judge David Ambler stopped a tribe's counsel from cross-examining an English-speaking witness in te reo Maori.
He said it served no purpose in that situation and would cause delays, despite simultaneous translations being available.
The Maori Language Commission's lawyer Mai Chen told the High Court that the ruling creates a dangerous precedent and signals that te reo Maori doesn't have status equal to other official languages.
Ms Chen said the role of commission was to promote the use of te reo Maori as a living language, and its use in the courts was pertinent to that.
