{ Adopted on: 1 Jan 1987 }
{ In force since: 1 Jan 1987 }
{ ICL Document Status: 3 Aug 1999 }
{ Editor's Note:
The consolidated ICL edition does not contain the schedules or references to
old law, but includes changes by the Constitution Amendment Act 1987.
Furthermore, the Constitution Amendment Act 1999 (3 Aug 1999) has been included
into this ICL edition (new Sections 3A, 3B, 9A,
9B, and 9C). For an official source of legislative documents see the
New Zealand Legislation project.
}
[Preamble]
An Act to reform the constitutional law of New Zealand, to bring together into
one enactment certain provisions of constitutional significance, and to provide
that the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
shall cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand
BE IT ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, as follows:
(1) The Sovereign in right of New Zealand is the head of State of New Zealand,
and shall be known by the royal style and titles proclaimed from time to time.
(2) The Governor-General appointed by the Sovereign is the Sovereign's representative
in New Zealand.
(1) Every power conferred on the Governor-General by or under any Act is a royal
power which is exercisable by the Governor-General on behalf of the Sovereign,
and may accordingly be exercised either by the Sovereign in person or by the Governor-General.
(2) Every reference in any Act to the Governor-General in Council or any other
like expression includes a reference to the Sovereign acting by and with the advice
and consent of the Executive Council.
(1) The Sovereign or the Governor-General may perform a function or duty, or exercise
a power, on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council if that advice
and consent are given at a meeting of the Executive Council at which neither the
Sovereign nor the Governor-General is present if the Sovereign or the Governor-General
is prevented from attending the meeting by some necessary or reasonable cause.
(2) The performance of the function or duty, or the exercise of the power takes
effect from the date of the meeting unless another time is specified for the performance
of the function or duty, or for the exercise of the power, to take effect.
(3) Neither the validity of the performance of the function or duty, nor the validity
of the exercise of the power, can be challenged in any legal proceedings on the
ground that the Sovereign or the Governor-General was not prevented from attending
the meeting of the Executive Council by some necessary or reasonable cause.
(1) The Administrator of the Government may perform a function or duty imposed
on the Governor-General, or exercise a power conferred on the Governor-General,
if--
(a) The office of Governor-General is vacant; or
(b) The Governor-General is unable to perform the function or duty or exercise
the power.
(2) The performance or exercise by the Administrator of the Government of a function
or duty imposed, or a power conferred, on the Governor-General is conclusive evidence
of the authority of the Administrator to perform the function or duty or exercise
the power.
(1) Where, under the law of the United Kingdom, the royal functions are being
performed in the same and on behalf of the Sovereign by a Regent, the royal functions
of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand shall be performed in the name and on
behalf of the Sovereign by that Regent.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section limits, in relation to any power
of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand, the authority of the Governor-General
to exercise that power.
(1) The death of the Sovereign shall have the effect of transferring all the functions,
duties, powers, authorities, rights, privileges, and dignities belonging to the
Crown to the Sovereign's successor, as determined in accordance with the enactment
of the Parliament of England intituled The Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Will. 3,
c. 2) and any other law relating to the succession to the Throne, but shall otherwise
have no effect in law for any purpose.
(2) Every reference to the Sovereign in any document or instrument in force on
or after the commencement of this Act shall, unless the context otherwise requires,
be deemed to include a reference to the Sovereign's heirs and successors.
(1) A person may be appointed and may hold office as a member of the Executive
Council or as a Minister of the Crown only if that person is a member of Parliament.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section,
(a) A person who is not a member of Parliament may be appointed and may hold office
as a member of the Executive Council or as a Minister of the Crown if that person
was a candidate for election at the general election of members of the House of
Representatives held immediately preceding that person's appointment as a member
of the Executive Council or as a Minister of the Crown but shall vacate office
at the expiration of the period of 40 days beginning with the date of the appointment
unless, within that period, that person becomes a member of Parliament; and
(b) Where a person who holds office both as a member of Parliament and as a member
of the Executive Council or as a Minister of the Crown ceases to be a member of
Parliament, that person may continue to hold office as a member of the Executive
Council or as a Minister of the Crown until the expiration of the 28th day after
the day on which that person ceases to be a member of Parliament.
Any function, duty, or power exercisable by or conferred on any Minister of the
Crown (by whatever designation that Minister is known) may, unless the context
otherwise requires, be exercised or performed by any member of the Executive Council.
(1) The Governor-General may from time to time, by warrant under the Governor-General's
hand, appoint any member of Parliament to be a Parliamentary Under-Secretary in
relation to such Ministerial office or offices as are specified in that behalf
in the warrant of appointment.
(2) A Parliamentary Under-Secretary shall hold office as such during the pleasure
of the Governor-General, but shall in every case vacate that office within 28
days of ceasing to be a member of Parliament.
(1) A Parliamentary Under-Secretary holding office as such in respect of any Ministerial
office shall have and may exercise or perform under the direction of the Minister
concerned such of the functions, duties, and powers of the Minister of the Crown
for the time being holding that office as may from time to time be assigned to
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary by that Minister.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section limits the authority of any Minister
of the Crown to exercise or perform personally any function, duty, or power.
(3) The fact that any person holding office as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary
in respect of any Ministerial office purports to exercise or perform any function,
duty, or power of the Minister concerned shall be conclusive evidence of that
person's authority to do so.
(1)The Governor-General may appoint a barrister or solicitor of at least 7 years'
practice to act--
(a) In place of, or for, the Solicitor-General during the absence from office
of the Solicitor-General or if the Solicitor-General is incapacitated in a way
that affects the performance of his or her duties; or
(b)During a vacancy in the office of Solicitor-General.
(2) The performance of a function or duty or the exercise of a power by a person
appointed under subsection (1) is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, sufficient
evidence of the authority of that person to do so.
(1) The Solicitor-General may, with the written consent of the Attorney-General,
in writing delegate to a Deputy Solicitor-General, any of the functions or duties
imposed, or powers conferred, on the Attorney-General.
(2) The Solicitor-General may in writing delegate to a Deputy Solicitor-General
any of the functions or duties imposed, or powers conferred, on the Solicitor-General,
except for the power to delegate conferred by this subsection.
(3) A delegation is revocable and does not prevent the Attorney-General or the
Solicitor-General from performing the function or duty or exercising the power.
(4) A delegation may be made on conditions specified in the instrument of delegation.
(1) There shall continue to be a House of Representatives for New Zealand.
(2) The House of Representatives is the same body as the House of Representatives
referred to in section 32 of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom.
(3) The House of Representatives shall be regarded as always in existence, notwithstanding
that Parliament has been dissolved or has expired.
(4) The House of Representatives shall have as its members those persons who are
elected from time to time in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act
1956, and who shall be known as "members of Parliament".
(1) A member of Parliament shall not be permitted to sit or vote in the House
of Representatives until that member has taken the Oath of Allegiance in the form
prescribed in section 17 of the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957.
(2) The oath to be taken under this section shall be administered by the Governor-General
or a person authorised by the Governor-General to administer that oath.
The House of Representatives shall, at its first meeting after any general election
of its members, and immediately on its first meeting after any vacancy occurs
in the office of Speaker, choose one of its members as its Speaker, and every
such choice shall be effective on being confirmed by the Governor-General.
A person who is in office as Speaker immediately before the dissolution or expiration
of Parliament shall, notwithstanding that dissolution or expiration, continue
in office until the close of polling day at the next general election unless that
person sooner vacates office as Speaker.
(1) There shall be a Parliament of New Zealand, which shall consist of the Sovereign
in right of New Zealand and the House of Representatives.
(2) The Parliament of New Zealand is the same body as that which before the commencement
of this Act was called the General Assembly (as established by section 32 of the
New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom) and
which consisted of the Governor-General and the House of Representatives.
(1) The Parliament of New Zealand continues to have full power to make laws.
(2) No Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement
of this Act shall extend to New Zealand as part of its law.
A Bill passed by the House of Representatives shall become law when the Sovereign
or the Governor-General assents to it and signs it in token of such assent.
(1) The term of Parliament shall, unless Parliament is sooner dissolved, be 3
years from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding
general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer.
(2) Section 189 of the Electoral Act 1956 shall apply in respect of subsection
(1) of this section.
(1) The Governor-General may be Proclamation summon Parliament to meet at such
place and time as may be appointed therein, notwithstanding that when the Proclamation
is signed or when it takes effect Parliament stands prorogued to a particular
date.
(2) The Governor-General may by Proclamation prorogue or dissolve Parliament.
(3) A Proclamation summoning, proroguing, or dissolving Parliament shall be effective
(a) On being gazetted; or
(b) On being publicly read, by some person authorised to do so by the Governor-General,
in the presence of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and 2 other persons,
whichever occurs first.
(4) Every Proclamation that takes effect pursuant to subsection (3) (b) of this
section shall be gazetted as soon as practicable after it is publicly read.
After any general election of members of the House of Representatives, Parliament
shall meet not later than 6 weeks after the day fixed for the return of the writs
for that election.
Where the House of Representatives resolves that any Bill, petition, or other
business before it or any of its committees be carried over to the next session
of Parliament (whether the same Parliament or not), that Bill, petition, or other
business shall not lapse upon the prorogation or dissolution or expiration of
the Parliament in being when that resolution is passed but shall be carried over
accordingly.
The House of Representatives shall not pass any Bill providing for the appropriation
of public money or for the imposition of any charge upon the public revenue unless
the making of that appropriation or the imposition of that charge has been recommended
to the House of Representatives by the Crown.
It shall not be lawful for the Crown, except by or under an Act of Parliament,
(a) To levy a tax; or
(b) To raise a loan or to receive any money as a loan from any person; or
(c) To spend any public money.
A Judge of the High Court shall not be removed from office except by the Sovereign
or the Governor-General, acting upon an address of the House of Representatives,
which address may be moved only on the grounds of that Judge's misbehaviour or
of that Judge's incapacity to discharge the functions of that Judge's office.
(1) The Library heretofore known as the General Assembly Library shall, as from
the commencement of this Act, be known as the Parliamentary Library.
(2) The officer heretofore known as the Chief Librarian of the General Assembly
Library shall be known, as from the commencement of this Act, as the Parliamentary
Librarian.
(3) Subject to section 27 of this Act, all references to the General Assembly
Library or to the Chief Librarian of the General Assembly Library in any other
enactment or in any document whatsoever shall hereafter, unless the context otherwise
requires, be read as references to the Parliamentary Library and to the Parliamentary
Librarian respectively.
(1) As from the commencement of this Act the following enactments of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom, namely,
(a) The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (15 and 16 Vict., c. 72); and
(b) The Statute of Westminster 1931 (22 Geo. V, c. 4); and
(c) The New Zealand Constitution (Amendment) Act 1947 (11 Geo. VI, c. 4), shall
cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand.
(2) The provisions of sections 20, 20A, and 21 of the Acts Interpretation Act
1924 shall apply with respect to the enactments specified in subsection (1) of
this section as if they were Acts of the Parliament of New Zealand that had been
repealed by that subsection.
(3) Without limiting the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, it is hereby
declared that the effect of section 11 of the Statute of Westminster 1931 (22
Geo. V, c. 4) (which section declared that the expression "Colony" shall not,
in any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement
of the Statute of Westminster 1931, include a Dominion or any Province or State
forming part of a Dominion) shall not be affected by virtue of the Statute of
Westminster 1931 ceasing, by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, to have
effect as part of the law of New Zealand.
(1) The enactments specified in the Second Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed.
(2) The Regulations Amendment Act 1962 is hereby consequentially repealed.
(3) Section 2 (2) of the Primary Products Marketing Amendment Act 1977 is hereby
consequentially repealed.
(4) Section 5 of the Civil List Amendment Act 1985 is hereby consequentially repealed.
(1) The Parliament in being at the commencement of this Act (before the commencement
of this Act called the General Assembly) shall continue in accordance with and
subject to the provisions of this Act.
(2) As from the commencement of this Act, every reference to the General Assembly
or to the General Assembly of New Zealand in any enactment passed before the date
of commencement of this Act and in any document executed before that date shall,
unless the context otherwise requires, be read as a reference to the Parliament
of New Zealand.
(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply in respect of the Acts Interpretation
Act 1924.