If you are found guilty of a crime and the Sovereign or the Governor-General gives you a free pardon, you are treated as if you never committed that crime. The Governor-General has special powers to grant a free pardon on behalf of the Sovereign. When a free pardon is granted, it does not change what happened before it was given, or the consequences of what happened.

If something was done lawfully before the pardon, the pardon does not affect it. The pardon also does not affect the consequences of something that was done unlawfully before it was granted. You are simply deemed never to have committed the offence for which you were granted the pardon.

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This page was last updated on 4 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM332188.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help

406A: Appeals against decisions made on references, or

"This law explained how people could challenge decisions made about their cases if they thought something wasn't fair."

408: Act to bind the Crown, or

"The rules in this law apply to everyone, including the government."

Part 14Miscellaneous provisions

407Effect of free pardon

Where any person convicted of any offence is granted a free pardon by the Sovereign, or by the Governor-General in the exercise of any powers vested in him or her in that behalf, that person shall be deemed never to have committed that offence:

provided that the granting of a free pardon shall not affect anything lawfully done or the consequences of anything unlawfully done before it is granted.

Compare

1908 No 32 s 452
Criminal Code (1954) s 655(3) (Canada)