Constitution of New Zealand

[3][4] The Constitution Act 1986 has a central role,[5] alongside a collection of other statutes, orders in Council, letters patent, decisions of the courts, principles of the Treaty of Waitangi,[1][6] and unwritten traditions and conventions.

The underlying principle is democracy, with political power exercised through a democratically elected parliament – this is often stated as "The [monarch] reigns but the government rules so long as it has the support of the House of Representatives.

[22] "The Crown" is regarded as the embodiment of the state,[23] with the monarch at the centre of a construct in which the power of the whole is shared by multiple institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority.

The office is largely ceremonial, although the governor-general holds a number of "reserve powers",[25] such as the ability to dismiss the prime minister in exceptional cases.

[21] New Zealand's legislative, executive and judicial branches function in accordance with the Constitution Act 1986[21] and various unwritten conventions, which are derived from the Westminster system.

[30] The maintenance of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London as the final court of appeal and judges' practice of tending to follow British decisions, even though, technically, they are not bound by them, both bolstered this presumption.

[31] The Supreme Court of New Zealand, which was established by legislation in October 2003 and which replaced the Privy Council for future appeals, has continued to develop the presumption.

[39] Prior to European settlement of New Zealand, Māori society was based largely around tribal units: iwi and hapū.

According to Governor Arthur Phillip's amended Commission dated 25 April 1787, the colony included "all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean" and running westward on the continent to the 135th meridian east.

This strategy was adopted by the Colonial Office in order to allow time for Captain William Hobson to legally acquire sovereignty from the United Tribes of New Zealand by treaty.

)[42] A further declaration on 23 May decried the "illegal assumption of authority" by the New Zealand Company settlements in Port Nicholson (Wellington and Britannia, later Petone) establishing their own 12-member governing council.

The Act was to be fully implemented in 1848, but was never put in place because the governor-in-chief at the time, Sir George Grey, declined to apply it for a number of reasons.

This Act was based almost entirely on a draft by Sir George Grey, the main difference being the appointment of the Governor by the Secretary of the Colonies, and not by the (New Zealand) House of Representatives.

The powers of the New Zealand Parliament were clarified by the Colonial Laws Validity Act (Imperial) of 1865, which allowed a measured amount of legal independence.

In 1891 the composition of Legislative Council was changed, Councillors were no longer appointed for life; instead for terms of seven years with provision for reappointment.

Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward prompted to move to "raise up New Zealand" and assured that it would "have no other effect than that of doing the country good".

As a result, the office of governor became governor-general under the Letters Patent 1917 to reflect New Zealand's status as a dominion more fully.

[50] To give effect to the 1926 conference declarations, the Statute of Westminster 1931 was passed thus lifting the restrictions created by the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865.

Legal academic and politician Geoffrey Palmer described the New Zealand Parliament in 1979 as the "fastest law maker in the West".

[55] Immediately following the 1984 election in which the Labour Party gained a parliamentary majority, a constitutional crisis arose when incumbent Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon of the National Party refused to implement the instructions of Prime Minister-elect David Lange to devalue the New Zealand dollar to head off a speculative run on the currency.

[56] The crisis was resolved when Muldoon relented three days later, under pressure from his own Cabinet, which threatened to install Deputy Prime Minister Jim McLay in his place.

For example, a proposal to create a supreme bill of rights that would grant courts the ability to invalidate Acts of Parliament via judicial review was rejected.

[61][58] Because it is not supreme law, New Zealand's constitution is in theory comparatively easy to reform, requiring only a majority of members of Parliament to amend it,[62] as illustrated by the abolition of the Legislative Council in 1950.

[citation needed] There is no requirement for a referendum to enact constitutional change in New Zealand, except for the electoral system and term of parliament.

The Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993 allows for non-binding referendums on any issue should proponents submit a petition to Parliament signed by 10% of registered electors.

However, there were no moves to amend the Electoral Act 1993 in line with this result until 2006 when a bill was introduced by New Zealand First MP Barbara Stewart to reduce the size of Parliament to 100.

[67] In November 2004, the Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the formation of a select committee of the House of Representatives to conduct an Inquiry into New Zealand's existing constitutional arrangements.

[71] An advisory panel supported ministers Bill English and Pita Sharples, who were to make a final report to Cabinet by the end of 2013.

The ministers' first report to Cabinet agreed on the make-up of the advisory panel, a plan for public engagement and how the review would interact with other government projects with a constitutional dimension, such as the referendum on MMP.

Chaired by Margaret Mutu and convened by Moana Jackson, the working group held 252 meetings with Māori at marae and other settings between 2012 and 2015.