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Source: Office of the Clerk
New Zealand’s first Constitution Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1852, setting out how the country would be governed.
The Act set up a Legislative Council, or upper house, of at least 10 members to be appointed by the Crown. It also created a House of Representatives, or lower house, of 24 to 42 members elected every five years by males aged over 21 who owned or rented property of a certain value.
It divided the country into six provinces: Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. Each province had its own elected superintendents and provincial council. The Act was replaced piece by piece with laws made by New Zealand’s own Parliament, until it finally was repealed by the Constitution Act 1986.
David Bagnall, Principal Clerk (Procedure) in the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, says the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 started us on our way as a democratic nation.
“New Zealand’s electoral and constitutional arrangements have changed a great deal over the years, with universal suffrage (the right to vote), a three-year electoral cycle, the abolition of the provinces and the upper house, full self-governance, the New Zealand Bill of Rights, and the shift to the MMP electoral system, to name a few. But the 1852 Act launched our democracy.
“Although New Zealand doesn’t have a single overarching constitutional document, we certainly have a constitution. There is a careful balance between our executive, legislature and judiciary. That classic separation of powers is a fundamental feature of a constitution, to provide checks and balances. New Zealand also has a really strong body of conventions about how a government operates.”
Some of our key constitutional documents include:
- The Treaty of Waitangi, which founded the partnership between iwi and the Crown.
- The Constitution Act 1986, which recognises the Queen as Head of State and the Governor-General as her representative in New Zealand. It describes the role and power of the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary, and gives Parliament full power to make laws and control public finances. The Constitution Act also sets the three-year limit for each term of Parliament.
- The Electoral Act 1993, which specifies how New Zealanders elect their Members of Parliament through the MMP system.
- The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, which protects rights and freedoms.