The treaty was incorporated in a limited way into New Zealand law by the State Owned Enterprises Act 1986. Section 9 of the act said "Nothing in this Act shall permit the Crown to act in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi". The government had proposed a transfer of assets from former Government departments to state-owned enterprises, but because the state-owned enterprises were essentially private firms owned by the government, there was an argument that they would prevent assets which had been given by Māori for use by the state from being returned to Māori by the Waitangi Tribunal and through Treaty settlements. The Act was challenged in court in 1987, and the judgement of "New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General" defined the "Principles of the Treaty" and the proposed sale of government assets was found to be in breach of this proviso. This allowed the courts to consider the Crown's actions in terms of compliance with the treaty and established the principle that if the treaty is mentioned in strong terms in a piece of legislation, it takes precedence over other parts of that legislation should they come into conflict. The "Principles of the Treaty" became a common topic in contemporary New Zealand politics, and in 1989, the Fourth Labour Government responded by adopting the ""Principles for Crown Action on the Treaty of Waitangi"" a similar list of principles to that established in the 1987 court case.