Falema‘i Lesa

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Falemai Lesa is a Samoan national resident in New Zealand who appealed her visa overstay conviction all the way to the Privy Council in Britain.

Her case Lesa v Attorney-General in which she pressed her claim to be a New Zealand citizen is a key legal case and had considerable impact on Samoans and New Zealand Law. The Privy Council ruled in 1982 that all Western Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 were British subjects, and that in 1949 they and their descendants had become New Zealand citizens.

One of the results of this ruling was the controversial decision by the Muldoon government to eliminate recourse to the Privy Council for New Zealand cases, despite the Council of the New Zealand Law Society being unanimously in favour of retention. The other result was to enact of the equally controversial New Zealand Citizenship and Western Samoa Act (1983) which effectively rescinded any annulled any citizenship claims by Samoans in reterosepct.

Her solicitor was Dr. George Paterson Barton, Q.C., from Wellington, who has acted in a number of prominent cases affecting Samoans.

The case continues to generate controversy and spur efforts to amend the immigration and nationality laws in New Zealand.

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