The first enactment of the first Parliament of New Zealand elected under this Act was the English Acts Act of 1854, which affirmed the application of 17 English statutes to New Zealand. This was expanded by the English Laws Act of 1858, which extended it to all English statutes in existence as at 14 January 1840; specifically the Bill of Rights 1689, and Habeas Corpus. The powers of the New Zealand Parliament were clarified by the Colonial Laws Validity Act (Imperial) of 1865, which allowed a measured amount of legal independence. Under the Act, the New Zealand Parliament could pass laws inconsistent with British statutes or the common law, so long as the Imperial statute was not specifically applicable to New Zealand. Where this occurred, the New Zealand statute would be void.
