Henry VIII clauses: Their place in modern New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand’s statutory and regulatory environment is becoming ever more complex in order to respond to the demands of an increasingly technologically and socially diverse world. For law makers, this provides significant challenges, particularly in the way that the relevant regulatory regimes are drafted. One of the responses made by the United Kingdom Parliament is the proliferation of the controversial so-called “Henry VIII clause”. These enable the executive branch of government to amend, suspend or override Acts of Parliament. These clause come with various expedience benefits, but also have some significant drawbacks, particularly in respect of their constitutional implications. This paper seeks to assess why these clauses are used and what about these clauses really is of concern. This paper concludes that New Zealand’s concerns, while shared with the United Kingdom’s to some degree, are really focused on the issue of policy production, and that if that is the understanding to be taken of these clauses, our use of the term “Henry VIII clause” may take on a different meaning.