New Zealand Constitution Act 1846

The New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. 103) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to grant self-government to the Colony of New Zealand, but it was never fully implemented. The Act's long title was An Act to make further Provision for the Government of the New Zealand Islands, and it received the royal assent on 28 August 1846.

The Act formally remained part of New Zealand's constitution until it was repealed by the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.

Background

The Charter of 1840

Prior to the Act, the basic document setting out the governance of New Zealand since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi was the Charter of 1840, which specified:

The three principal islands of New Zealand were to be known as New Ulster, New Munster, and New Leinster.
The Governor was to summon an Executive Council to advise and assist him. This Council comprised the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Treasurer.
A Legislative Council of seven people – the Governor, the members of the Executive Council, and three nominated Justices of the Peace – was to make laws and ordinances "for the peace, order, and good government" of the colony.

The Executive and Legislative Councils met infrequently during the governorships of Hobson and his successors, Lieutenant Willoughby Shortland (as Administrator), Robert FitzRoy and Sir George Grey. Throughout the Crown colony period each Governor held, in the name of the Crown, complete control over the executive and legislative functions of government.

Settler demands for representative government

There was a growing agitation from the settlers for representative government. This was particularly the case in Wellington which, as a New Zealand Company settlement, briefly had its own independent governing council, until Governor Hobson sent his Colonial Secretary, Willoughby Shortland, and some soldiers to Port Nicholson to end any challenge to British sovereignty (the colonists had set up a "colonial council", which Hobson described as a "republic", in March 1840 headed by Wakefield and Smith, and primitive legal institutions).

The people of Auckland, then the capital, were less interested. Eventually, pressure led to the enactment in 1846 in London of an intricate constitution.

Effect

The Act provided for a three-tiered system of representative government:

Municipal corporations were to be created with the powers of English boroughs;
Two provinces were to be established with assemblies that would include a Governor, a nominated Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives elected by the mayor and councillors of the municipalities in the province;
A General Assembly for the whole colony consisting of a Governor-in-Chief, a nominated Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives appointed by the houses of the provinces from their own members.

The Act was intended to be implemented by a royal charter and royal instructions, issued on 23 December 1846.^[1]^[2]

Suspension

Governor of New Zealand George Grey argued that the Constitution Act would place the Māori majority under the political control of the settlers, and so undermine his efforts to protect Māori interests. In 1848 (just before Grey created two provinces, New Ulster and New Munster) the British Parliament passed the Government of New Zealand Act 1848 under which parts of the 1846 Act dealing with establishment of provincial assemblies and the General Assembly were not to come into force for another five years.

The Charter provisions relating to the Legislative Council for the whole colony continued and the Governor was authorised to establish Legislative Councils in each of the provinces. However, settler pressure for representative institutions and criticism of Grey intensified, and for the next four years the Governor pursued a course that gave little satisfaction to the settlers.

Early in 1848 he had appointed Major-General Pitt (he was followed by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard) as Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster, and Edward John Eyre as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster. Each had associated with him an Executive Council. Later in the same year Grey, through an Ordinance of the General Legislative Council, established nominated Legislative Councils in each province. The Provincial Council of New Ulster was never summoned. In 1851, under the authority of the 1846 Act, Grey made the town of Auckland a municipality, but this step did not relieve the pressure for a Legislative Council which would be representative of the whole province.

The Provincial Council of New Munster had only one legislative session – in 1849 – before it succumbed to the virulent attacks of the Wellington settlers. Grey, sensible to the pressures, inspired an ordinance of the General Legislative Council under which new Legislative Councils would be established in each province with two-thirds of their members elected on a generous franchise. Grey, however, proceeded to implement the ordinance with such deliberation that neither Council met before advice was received that the Parliament at Westminster had passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.

References

↑ "text of royal charter". London Gazette. 29 December 1846.
↑ "text of royal instructions". London Gazette. 29 December 1846.

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes UK Statute Law Database Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Act of Sederunt, Act of Adjournal

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