Moon, Paul2026-03-312026-03-312026-03-27The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, ISSN: 0308-6534 (Print); 1743-9329 (Online), Informa UK Limited, 1-24. doi: 10.1080/03086534.2026.26486260308-65341743-9329http://hdl.handle.net/10292/20849In the Hokianga region of Northland in 1898, a war nearly broke out between Māori and the Crown, ostensibly over the Crown’s imposition of a tax on dogs. This article explores some of the underlying issues that led to that crisis, focusing particularly on how various forms and dimensions of sovereignty were contested in the post-1840 colonial period in New Zealand. What the so-called ‘Dog Tax War’ exemplified was a trend during that era of encroaching Crown sovereignty into indigenous communities in the colony, coupled with efforts by Māori to resist that process. This work introduces the idea of Māori de recto sovereignty in connection with these incursions of Crown sovereignty, and examines the ensuing dynamics that emerged between different conceptions of sovereignty among Māori and the Crown, set against the backdrop of the trajectory of growing Crown power in the colony.© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.2103 Historical StudiesHistory4303 Historical studiesSovereigntyMāoriRangatiratangadog taxKīngitangaTreaty of WaitangiJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1080/03086534.2026.2648626