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Authors Dame Alison Quentin-Baxter and Professor Janet McLean celebrated the launch of their book “This Realm of New Zealand: The Sovereign, the Governor-General, the Crown” at the Grand Hall of Parliament last night. The event was hosted by the Minister of Justice, Andrew Little, and Sir Kenneth Keith launched the publication. Both complimented the authors on producing such an important reference book on New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements.

This Law Foundation-funded book provides a comprehensive account of how the Queen, the Governor-General and the Crown interact with our democratically-elected leaders under New Zealand’s unwritten constitution.

It explains how New Zealand, and other South Pacific islands, were first brought within Queen Victoria’s dominions, the arrangements then made for their future government, and how those arrangements developed over time with the pressure for democracy and responsible government to become New Zealand’s current constitution. It discusses the responsibilities of, and interactions between, the key office-holders: the Sovereign herself; her representative, the Governor-General; the impersonal and perpetual Crown, and the Prime Minister, other Ministers and Members of Parliament.

The authors also examine some of the key issues to be considered should New Zealand become a republic.

More information about the book and its authors

The Law Foundation provided funding of $103,053 for this project