had an elected Superintendent, and the power to pass subordinate legislation (Ordinances). The Governor retained the right to veto legislation, and the Crown also had a right of disallowance within two years of the Acts passage; A General Assembly comprising the elected House of Representatives, appointed Legislative Council (Upper House) and the Governor was constituted to pass law for the "peace, order and good government of New Zealand"; An Executive Council consisting of the Governor and Ministers. 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. In 1857 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1857, which allowed the New Zealand Parliament the ability to amend certain parts of the 1852 Act. This mainly related to proposals for new provinces in New Zealand. Several new provinces were then created by the New Zealand Parliament. The first major repeal of part of the Act came in 1876 with the Abolition of Provinces Act, which repealed section 2 of the Act and abolished the Provinces from 1 January 1877, thus centralising New Zealand's government in its bicameral Parliament. In 1891 the composition of Legislative Council was changed, Councillors were no longer appointed for life; instead for terms of 7 years with provision for reappointment. Dominion and Realm The Imperial Conference of 1907 resolved to allow certain colonies to become independent states, termed 'Dominions'. Following the Conference, the House of Representatives passed a motion requesting that King Edward VII "take such steps as he may consider necessary; to change New Zealand's official name from 'The Colony of New Zealand' to 'The Dominion of New Zealand'. Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward prompted to move to