Looking Back in Anxiety: Reflecting on Colonial New Zealand's Historical-Political Constitution and Laws’ Histories in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This essay addresses a concept of political as opposed to legal constitutionalism in New Zealand, including how such a concept might assist legal-historical analysis. It does so with reference to what the author has characterized as historical-political constitutionalism, focused upon expanding and diversifying areas of contestability and dissent in and through politics as opposed to relying on case- by-case legalism. In examining constitutionalism in this manner, this article foregrounds the ongoing political contestation that shaped and defined governmental power across various layers and interconnections of activity and thought, not only local or provincial but also trans-oceanic.

Keywords: Constitutional Law, New Zealand

JEL Classification: K00, K10