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Story: Law and the economy

English Laws Act 1858

English Laws Act 1858

The English Laws Act 1858 was passed to clarify the status of English law in New Zealand.  In colonies that had only a British settler population, English law was deemed to be in force from the inception of the colony, but in colonies with an indigenous population with its own practices it was not. The English Laws Act stipulated that all English law as of 14 January 1840 (the date William Hobson was sworn in as the colony's first lieutenant-governor) were deemed to be in force in New Zealand, where applicable to New Zealand circumstances.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Reference: New Zealand Statutes, 1858, pp. 5

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How to cite this page

Lewis Evans, Law and the economy – Setting the framework, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25612/english-laws-act-1858 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Lewis Evans, published 9 March 2010.

Comments

Te Hoe Rihari
22 February 2015
This act is a traitors act starting with lieutenant - Governer Hobson and Chief Justice Prendergast till present day where it still applies. Where is the mandate for this act to exist or function in Aotearoa. It can only be approved the reigning English monarch of the time and seconded by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, any other way is treason and why is it not in Aotearoa history. This document is guilty of genocide of tangata whenua from its inception in May 28, 1858 and not Maori Wars as so called historians like to state.