Parliamentary privilege in New Zealand

Abstract

The Parliament of New Zealand, in common with the many other legislatures which have descended from the Mother Parliament at Westminster, enjoys those powers, privileges and immunities which have developed as part of the lex et consuetudo parliamenti and which are collectively known as parliamentary privilege. They are generally accepted as being necessary to the constitutional functions of Parliament, and have been described as - The sum of the fundamental rights of the House and of its individual members as against the prerogatives of the Crown, the authority of the ordinary Courts of Law, and the special rights of the House of Lords Redlich, The Procedure of the House of Commons, (1908) Vol, 1, p. 46.