New Zealand Legislative Council

New Zealand Legislative Council
Type
Type	Upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand[a]
History
Established	1853[b]
Disbanded	1 January 1951 (1951-01-01)[c]
Preceded by	New Zealand Legislative Council (1841–1853)
Leadership
Speaker	William Swainson (first) Thomas Otto Bishop (last)
Elections
Voting system	Appointed by governor/governor-general
Meeting place
The original plenary chamber, photographed in 1899
Parliament House, Wellington
Footnotes
a. ^ Parliament was formally titled the "General Assembly of New Zealand" before 1986. b. ^ First meeting of the General Assembly was on 24 May 1854 (1854-05-24).[1] c. ^ Final sitting on 1 December 1950.[2]

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The New Zealand Legislative Council (Māori: Whare o Runga, lit. 'Upper House')^[3] was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951.^[2] An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a colony; it was reconstituted as the upper house of a bicameral legislature when New Zealand became self-governing in 1852, which came into effect in the following year.

Unlike the elected lower house, the House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was wholly appointed by the governor-general. The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 had authorised the appointment of a minimum of ten councillors. Beginning in the 1890s, the membership of the upper house became controlled by government of the day. As a result, the Legislative Council possessed little influence. While intended as a revising chamber, in practice, debates and votes typically simply replicated those in the lower house. It was abolished by an Act of Parliament in 1950, with its last sitting in December 1950.

The Council's chamber is no longer utilised as a debating chamber, but it is used for certain ceremonial functions, such as the speech from the throne.