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which may hereafter be admitted into the Dominion of Canada, and provide for the representation of such provinces in the said parliament, and it is expedient to remove such doubts, and to vest such powers in the said parliament:

Be it enacted by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

1. This act may be cited for all purposes as The British North America Act, 1871."

2. The parliament of Canada may from time to time establish new provinces in any territories forming for the time being part of the Dominion of Canada, but not included in any province thereof, and may at the time of such establishment, make provision for the constitution and administration of any such province, and for the passing of laws for the peace, order and good government of such province, and for its representation in the said parliament.

3. The parliament of Canada may from time to time, with the consent of the legislature of any province of the said Dominion, increase, diminish or otherwise alter the limits of such province, upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed to by the said legislature, and may, with the like consent, make provision respecting the effect and operation of any such increase or diminution or alteration of territory in relation to any province affected thereby.

4. The parliament of Canada may from time to time make provision for the administration, peace, order and good government of any territory not for the time being included in any province.

5. The following acts passed by the said parliament of Canada, and intituled respectively: "An act for the temporary government of Rupert's Land and the Northwestern Territory when united with Canada," and "An act to amend and continue the act thirty-two and thirty-three Victoria, chapter three, and to establish and provide for the government of the province of Manitoba," shall be and be deemed to have been valid and effectual for all purposes whatsoever from the date at which they respectively received the assent, in the queen's name, of the governorgeneral of the said Dominion of Canada.

6. Except as provided by the third section of this act, it shall not be competent for the parliament of Canada to alter the provisions of the last mentioned act of the said parliament, in so far as it relates to the

province of Manitoba, or of any other act hereafter establishing new provinces in the said Dominion, subject always to the right of the legislature of the province of Manitoba to alter from time to time the provisions of any law respecting the qualification of electors and members of the legislative assembly, and to make laws respecting elections in the said province.

THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA ACT, 1875.

[July 19, 1875]

An act to remove doubts with respect to the powers of the Parliament of Canada under section eighteen of the British North America Act, 1867.

Whereas by section eighteen of the British North America Act, 1867, it is provided as follows:

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The privileges, immunities and powers to be held, enjoyed and exercised by the senate and by the house of commons, and by the members thereof respectively, shall be such as are from time to time defined by act of parliament of Canada, but so that the same shall never exceed those at the passing of this act, held, enjoyed and exercised by the commons house of parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and by the members thereof."

And whereas doubts have arisen with regard to the power of defining by an act of the parliament of Canada, in pursuance of the said section, the said privileges, powers, or immunities; and it is expedient to remove such doubts;

Be it therefore enacted by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. Section eighteen of the British North America Act, 1867, is hereby repealed without prejudice to anything done under that section, and the following section shall be substituted for the section so repealed:

The privileges, immunities and powers to be held, enjoyed and exercised by the senate and by the house of commons, and by the members thereof, respectively, shall be such as are from time to time defined by act of the parliament of Canada; but so that any act of the parliament of Canada defining such privileges, immunities and powers shall not confer any privileges, immunities or powers exceeding those at the pass

ing of such act, held, enjoyed and exercised by the commons house of parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and by the members thereof.

2. The act of the parliament of Canada passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of her present majesty, chapter twenty-four, intituled "An act to provide for oaths to witnesses being administered in certain cases for the purposes of either house of parliament," shall be deemed to be valid, and to have been valid as from the date at which the royal assent was given thereto by the governor-general of the Dominion of Canada.

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3. This act may be cited as The Parliament of Canada Act, 1875."

THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1886.

[June 25, 1886.]

An Act respecting the representation in the Parliament of Canada of Territories which for the time being form part of the Dominion of Canada, but are not included in any Province.

Whereas it is expedient to empower the parliament of Canada to provide for the representation in the senate and house of commons of Canada, or either of them, of any territory which for the time being forms part of the Dominion of Canada, but is not included in any province :

Be it therefore enacted by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. The parliament of Canada may, from time to time, make provision for the representation in the senate and house of commons of Canada, or in either of them, of any territories which for the time being form. part of the Dominion of Canada, but are not included in any province thereof.

2. Any act passed by the parliament of Canada before the passing of this act for the purpose mentioned in this act shall, if not disallowed by the queen, be, and shall be deemed to have been, valid and effectual from the date at which it received the assent, in her majesty's name, of the governor-general of Canada.

It is hereby declared that any act passed by the parliament of Canada, whether before or after the passing of this act, for the purpose mentioned in this act, or in the British North America Act, 1871, has effect, notwithstanding anything in the British North America Act, 1867, and the number of senators or the number of members of the house of commons specified in the last mentioned act is increased by the number of senators or of members, as the case may be, provided by any such act of the parliament of Canada, for the representation of any provinces or territories of Canada.

3. This act may be cited as the British North America Act, 1886. This act and the British North America Act, 1867, and the British North America Act, 1871, shall be construed together, and may be cited together as the British North America Acts, 1867 to 1886.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA CONSTITUTION ACT.

[July 9, 1900.]

Whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble federal commonwealth under the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the constitution hereby established: and whereas it is ex pedient to provide for the admission into the Commonwealth of other Australasian colonies and possessions of the queen:

Be it therefore enacted by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act.

2. The provisions of this act referring to the queen shall extend to her majesty's heirs and successors in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

3. It shall be lawful for the queen, with the advice of the privy council, to declare by proclamation that, on and after a day therein appointed. not being later than one year after the passing of this act, the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. and also, if her majesty is satisfied that the people of Western Australia

have agreed thereto, of Western Australia, shall be united in a federal commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia. But the queen may, at any time after the proclamation, appoint a governorgeneral for the Commonwealth.

4. The Commonwealth shall be established, and the constitution of the Commonwealth shall take effect, on and after the day so appointed. But the parliaments of the several colonies may at any time after the passing of this act make any such laws, to come into operation on the day so appointed, as they might have made if the constitution had taken effect at the passing of this act.

5. This act, and all laws made by the parliament of the Commonwealth under the constitution, shall be binding on the courts, judges, and people of every State, and of every part of the Commonwealth, notwithstanding anything in the laws of any State; and the laws of the Commonwealth shall be in force on all British ships, the queen's ships of war excepted, whose first port of clearance and whose port of destination are in the Commonwealth.

6. "The Commonwealth" shall mean the Commonwealth of Australia as established under this act.

"The States" shall mean such of the colonies of New South Wales. New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the Northern Territory of South Australia, as for the time being are parts of the Commonwealth, and such colonies or territories as may be admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as States; and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called a "State."

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Original States" shall mean such States as are parts of the Commonwealth at its establishment.

7. The Federal Council of Australasia Act, 1885, is hereby repealed; but so as not to affect any laws passed by the federal council of Australasia and in force at the establishment of the Commonwealth.

Any such law may be repealed as to any State by the parliament of the Commonwealth, or as to any colony not being a State by the parliament.

thereof.

8. After the passing of this act the Colonial Boundaries Act, 1895, shall not apply to any colony which becomes a State of the Commonwealth; but the Commonwealth shall be taken to be a self-governing colony for the purposes of that act.

9. The constitution of the Commonwealth shall be as follows:

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