Constitutional Role
New Zealand's constitution is made up of a variety of statutes and conventions that are either British or New Zealand in origin, and together give New Zealand a parliamentary system of government wherein the role of the Queen is both legal and practical. The Crown is regarded as a corporation, with the sovereign, in the position of head of state, as the centre of a construct in which the power of the whole is shared by multiple institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority. Though this power stems from the people, all New Zealanders live under the authority of the monarch.
The vast powers that belong to the Crown are collectively known as the Royal Prerogative, the exercise of which does not require parliamentary approval, though it is not unlimited; for example, the monarch does not have the prerogative to impose and collect new taxes without the authorization of an Act of Parliament. The consent of the Crown must, however, be obtained before either of the houses of parliament may even debate a bill affecting the sovereign's prerogatives or interests, and no act of parliament binds the Queen or her rights unless the act states that it does.
Read more about this topic: Monarchy In New Zealand
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