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 Section eighteen of the British North America Act, 1867, is hereby repealed without prejudice to anything done under that section, and the following section shall be substituted for the section so repealed.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 passing 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, entitled "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. 3. This Act may be cited as the Parliament of Canada Act, 1875. THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT [49 & 50 Victoria, cap. 35] 1886 An Act respecting the presentation 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 Parlia ment 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. HISTORICAL RÉSUMÉ In 1900 the six Australian Colonies had all received responsible parliamentary governments. By an Imperial statute of that year they were united in a Commonwealth, federal in its nature. This Constitution has been amended by the action of the citizens of the Commonwealth in 1907 and 1910. |