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Letters Patent 1848 [1848] NZConLRes 5 (16 November 1848)

Last Updated: 21 August 2017

And WHEREAS it is expedient that an Executive Council should be appointed to advise and assist the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being in the administration of the Government thereof, we do therefore, by these our Letters Patent, authorize the Governor of our said Colony for the time being to summon as an Executive Council, such Persons as may from time to time be named or designated by us in any Instructions under our Signet and Sign Manual, addressed to him in that behalf.

And we do hereby authorize and empower the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being to keep and use the Public Seal appointed for the Sealing of all things whatsoever that shall pass the Seal of our said Colony.

And we do hereby give and grant to the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, full power and authority, with the advice and consent of our said Executive Council, to issue a Proclamation or Proclamations, dividing our said Colony into Districts, Counties, Hundreds, Towns and Townships and Parishes, and to appoint the limits thereof respectively.

And we do hereby give and grant to the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, full power and authority, in our name and on our behalf, but subject nevertheless to such provisions as may be in that respect contained in any Instructions which may from time to time be addressed to him by us for that purpose, to make and execute, in our name and on our behalf, under the Public Seal of our said Colony, Grants of waste Land, to us belonging within the same, to private persons, for their own use and benefit, or to any persons, bodies politic or corporate, in trust for the public uses of our subjects there resident, or any of them.

Provided Always, that nothing in these our Letters Patent contained shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any aboriginal natives of the said Colony of New Zealand, to the actual occupation or enjoyment in their own persons, or in the persons of their descendants, of any Lands in the said Colony now actually occupied or enjoyed by such Natives.

And we do hereby authorize and empower the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, to constitute and appoint Judges, and, in cases requisite, Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, Justices of the Peace, and other necessary Officers and Ministers in our said Colony, for the due and impartial administration of Justice, and for putting the Laws into execution, and to administer or cause to be administered unto them such oath or oaths as are usually given for the due execution and performance of these offices and places, and for the clearing of truth in judicial matters.

And we do hereby give and grant unto the Governor of the said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, full power and authority, as he shall see occasion, in our name and on our behalf, to remit any Fines, Penalties, or Forfeitures, which may accrue or become payable to us, provided the same do not exceed the sum of Fifty Pounds Sterling in any one case, and to respite and suspend the payment of any such Fine, Penalty, or Forfeiture exceeding the sum of Fifty Pounds, until our pleasure thereon shall be made known and signified to such Governor.

And we do hereby give and grant to unto the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, full power and authority, as he shall see occasion, in our name and on our behalf, to grant to any offender convicted of any Crime in any Court, or before any Judge, Justice or Magistrate, without our said Colony, a fee and unconditional pardon, or a pardon subject to such conditions as by any Law or Ordinance hereafter to be in force in our said Colony may be thereunto annexed, or any respite of the execution of the sentence of any such offender for such period as to such Governor may seem fit.

And we do hereby give and grant unto the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, full power and authority, upon sufficient cause to him appearing, to suspend from the exercise of his office, within our said Colony, any Person exercising any office or place under or by virtue of any Commission or Warrant granted, or which may be granted by us, or in our name, or under our authority ; which suspension shall continue and have effect only until our pleasure therein shall be made known and signified to such Governor. And we do hereby strictly require and enjoin the Governor of our said Colony for the time being, in proceeding to any such suspension, to observe the directions in that behalf given to him by our Instructions under our Signet and Sign Manual accompanying his Commission of Appointment as Governor of the said Colony.

And in the event of the death or absence out of our said Colony of New Zealand of such Person as may be Commissioner and Appointed by us to be the Governor thereof, we do hereby provide and declare our pleasure to be, that all and every the powers and authorities herein granted to the Governor of our said Colony of New Zealand for the time being, shall be, and the same are hereby vested in such Person as may be appointed by us by Warrant under our Signet and Sign Manual, to be the Lieutenant-Governor of our said Colony, or, in the event of there being no person within our said Colony Commissioned and Appointed by us to be the Lieutenant-Governor thereof, then our pleasure is, and we do hereby provide and declare, that in any such contingency all the powers and authorities herein granted to the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor in our said Colony shall be, and the same are hereby granted to the Colonial Secretary of our said Colony for the time being, and such Lieutenant-Governor, or such Colonial Secretary, as the case may be, shall have all and every the powers and authorities herein granted until our further pleasure shall be signified therein.

And we do hereby require and command all our Officers and Ministers, Civil and Military, and all other the Inhabitants of our said Colony of New Zealand, to be obedient, aiding and assisting to such Persons as may be Commissioner and Appointed by us to be the Governor of our said Colony, or, in the event of his death or absence, to such Person as may, under the provisions of these our Letters Patent, assume and exercise the functions of such Governor.

And we do hereby reserve to us, our heirs and successors, full power and authority from time to time, to revoke, alter or amend these our Letters patent as to us or them shall seem meet.

In witness, & witness, &

16 November 1848