Māori Status in New Zealand Law · Authority Ledger · Part 61 · Parliament

Where does the New Zealand Parliament get its law-making authority today?

The Constitution Act 1986 states that Parliament consists of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand and the House of Representatives and that Parliament continues to have full power to make laws. The word “continues” points back to an older constitutional chain rather than creating the institution from nothing.

Part 3 of the Constitution Act 1986 is the current statutory starting point. Section 14 says there is a Parliament of New Zealand consisting of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand and the House of Representatives. Section 15 says Parliament continues to have full power to make laws.

“Continues” matters.The 1986 Act is not written as though a new legislature appeared in 1986. It restates and continues a law-making authority already treated as existing in the New Zealand constitutional order.

Office/bodyParliament of New Zealand.

Current legal statement of powerConstitution Act 1986, ss 14–16.

What the Act saysParliament consists of Sovereign + House; Parliament continues to have full power to make laws; Bills require Royal assent.

What remains historicalThe deeper chain by which the earlier imperial/colonial legislature became the Parliament whose power the 1986 Act continues.

The current statute answers “what power does Parliament have now?” It does not by itself answer “what was the original constitutional source of the sovereignty premise on which that parliamentary power first rested?”

Primary constitution statuteConstitution Act 1986, ss 14–16.

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