In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the committee acted as a check on both judicial and executive decision making, ensuring a degree of parliamentary accountability and oversight of two powerful and dominating actors in the area of 19th century land alienation and governance: the Native Land Court and the Government itself. All select committees have an important accountability and scrutiny function. What makes the Māori Affairs Committee special is what Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Justice Matthew Palmer describes as the historic role of the "Māori land ombudsman". For a large part of its existence, petitions drove the bulk of the committee's work. This responsiveness to petitioners defined the committee's constitutional role as a check on the actions of the Crown in relation to Māori land, at the very least, ensuring that grievances were formally communicated to responsible officials as well as compelling some level of explanation from the Land Court and Government.