On this day in 1947, the New Zealand Parliament voted to ratify the Statute of Westminster, giving the nation independence from laws enacted by the British government.

The statute removed the British parliament’s authority to legislate for its Dominions by providing that

No Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement of this Act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to a Dominion as part of the law of that Dominion, unless it is expressly declared in that Act that that Dominion has requested, and consented to, the enactment thereof.

Statute of Westminster, Section 4

The full statute is available on the United Kingdom’s official website: Statute of Westminster 1931