Dormant Commission

Does anyone know what a "Dormant Commission" is/was in the context of
Letters Patent governing the office of a Governor-General? The term
appears to have been used in the past both for New Zealand and
Australia, if not others.

frederick...

Thank you very much for the detailed and informative response!

Incidentally, my wording "a sort of open-ended generic commission" was
sloppier than I'd intended; I meant that it would be worded something
along the lines of (say) "Joe Bloggs, for the time being Chief Justice,
or such other person as We shall please from time to time to appoint to
that office" [or whatever form of words these things use], rather than
a commission appointing only a specific named individual for a specific
occurrence of a Governor-General not being available to perform his/her
duties (and that would require being issued anew for each such
occurrence).

frederick...

For your reference, here's what the Letters Patent dated Oct. 28, 1983,
have to say for New Zealand:

XII. Administrator of the Government.
Whenever the office of Governor-General is vacant, or the holder of the
office is for any reason unable to perform all or any of the functions
of the office, We do hereby authorise, empower, and command the Chief
Justice of New Zealand to perform the functions of the office of
Governor-General. If, however, there is for the time being no Chief
Justice able so to act, then the President of the Court of Appeal shall
be so authorised, empowered, and commanded, and, if there should be no
President of the Court of Appeal able so to act, then the Senior Judge
for the time being of the Court of Appeal, shall be so authorised,
empowered, and commanded; such Chief Justice or President of the Court
of Appeal or Senior Judge for the time being of the Court of Appeal,
while he is performing all or any of the functions of the office of
Governor-General, to be known as the Administrator of the Government;
and in these Our Letters Patent every reference to Our Governor-General
shall, unless inconsistent with the context, include a reference to Our
Administrator of the Government.

susuhanan...

Thank for the useful link.

On reading the full text of the Letters Patent for the GG of the Realm
of New Zealand, I began to wonder about the precise status of the
Queen's Representatives in places like the Cook Islands (and Niue?). Is
there any similar document or legal definition to be had for that
office?

Would I be right in thinking that it's a sort of open-ended generic
commission, as opposed to a commission that appoints a specific named
individual to an office from a specific date?