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Royal Charter of 1840 [1840] NZConLRes 13 (10 November 1840)

Last Updated: 21 August 2017

CHARTER For erecting the Colony of NEW ZEALAND, and for creating and establishing a Legislative Council and an Executive Council, and for granting certain powers and authorities to the Governor for the time being of the said Colony.
VICTORIA, &c., TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING.

WHEREAS By an Act of Parliament made and passed in the Fourth Year of our reign, intituled “An Act to continue, until the Thirty-First day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-One, and to the End of the next Session of Parliament, and to extend the Provisions of an Act to provide for the administration of Justice in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, and for the more effectual government thereof, and for other purposes relating thereto,” after reciting amongst other things that the said Colony of New South Wales is of great Extent, and that it may be fit that certain Dependencies of the said Colony should be formed into separate Colonies, and Provision made for the temporary administration of the government of any such newly-erected Colony, it is Enacted, that is shall be lawful for us, by Letters Patent to be from Time to Time issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to erect into a separate Colony or Colonies any Islands which now are or which hereafter may be comprised within and be Dependences of the said Colony of New South Wales; and WHEREAS the Islands of New Zealand, at the time of the passing of the above recited Act, were comprised within and were Dependencies of the said Colony of New South Wales. NOW KNOW YE that we, in pursuance of the said recited Act of Parliament, and in exercise of the powers thereby in us vested, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion have thought fit to erect, and do hereby erect, the said Islands of New Zealand, and all other Islands adjacent thereto, and lying between the 34^th degree 30 minutes North, to the 47^th degree 10 minutes South Latitude, and between the 166^th degree 5 minutes; to the 179^th degree of East Longitude, (reckoning from the Meridian of Greenwich,) into a separate Colony, and the same are hereby erected into a separate Colony accordingly. And we do hereby declare; that from henceforth the said Islands shall be known and designated as the Colony of New Zealand, and the principal Islands, heretofore known as, or commonly called, the “Northern Island,” the “Middle Island,” and “Stewart’s Island,” shall henceforward be designated and known respectively as “New Ulster,” “New Munster,” and “New Leinster.”

AND WHEREAS by the said recited Act of Parliament it is further Enacted; That in case we shall, by any Letters Patent as aforesaid, establish any such new Colony or Colonies as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for us, by any such Letters patent, to authorize any number of Persons, not less than seven, including the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of any such new Colony or Colonies, to constitute a Legislative Council or Legislative Councils for the same, and that every such Legislative Council shall be composed of such Persons as shall from time to time be named or designated by us for that purpose, and shall hold their places therein at our pleasure, and that if shall be lawful for such Legislative Council to make and ordain all such Laws and Ordinances as may be required for the Peace, Order, and good government of any such colony as aforesaid, for which such Legislative Council may be so appointed; and that in the making all such Laws and Ordinances, the said Legislative Council shall conform to and observe all such Instructions as we, with the advice of our Privy Council, shall from time to time make for their guidance therein. Provided Always, that no such Instructions and no such Laws of Ordinances as aforesaid shall be repugnant to the Law of England, but consistent therewith so far as the circumstances of any such Colony may admit; Provided Also, That all such Laws and Ordinances shall be subject to our confirmation or disallowance, in such Manner and according to such Regulations as we, by any such Instructions as aforesaid, shall from time to time see fit to prescribe : Provided Also, that all Instructions which shall, in pursuance of the said recited Act, be made by us, with the advice of our Privy Council, and that all Laws and Ordinances which shall be made in pursuance of the said recited Act, by any such Legislative Council of any such newly erected colony as last aforesaid, shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within one Month from the date of any such Instructions, or from the arrival in this Kingdom of the transcript of any such Laws or Ordinances, if Parliament shall then be in Session sitting, or if not, then within one Month from the commencement of the next ensuing Session of Parliament. NOW THEREFORE, in pursuance and further exercise of the powers so vested in us as aforesaid, in and by the said Act of Parliament, we do, by these our Letters Paten, authorize the Governor or the Lieutenant Governor for the time being of the said Colony of New Zealand, and such other Persons, not less than six, as are hereinafter designated, to constitute and be a Legislative Council for the said Colony; and, in further exercise of the powers aforesaid, we do hereby declare that, in addition to the said Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, the said Legislative Council shall be composed of such public officers within the said Colony, or of such other Persons as shall from time to time be named or designated for that purpose by us, by any Instruction or Instructions, or Warrant or Warrants to be by us for that purpose issued under our Signet and Sign Manual, and with the advice of our Privy Council, all of which Councillors shall hold their places in the said Council at our pleasure.

And we do hereby require and enjoin that such Legislative Council shall, in pursuance of the said Act of Parliament, make and ordain all such Laws and Ordinances as may be required for the Peace, Order, and good government of the said Colony of New Zealand, and that in the making all such Laws and Ordinances the said Legislative Council shall conform to and observe all such Instructions as we, with the advice of our Privy Council, shall from time to time make for their guidance therein.