Legislative council
A legislative council is the name given to the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. A member of a legislative council is commonly referred to as an MLC.
History
In the British Empire, the authority under which legislative councils have been constituted has varied: some under the prerogative, others by act of parliament, and some by commission and royal instructions.[1] Many are or were the upper house in a bicameral legislature and many had members who were appointed, not elected.
List of legislative councils
Extant
National
Country | Body | Type | Established | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Brunei | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1959 | Suspended in 1984, reconvened in 2004 |
Hong Kong | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1843 | Established under the prerogative; Provisional Legislative Council 1997–98 |
Isle of Man | Legislative Council | Upper House | ||
Palestine | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1996 | |
Saint Helena | Legislative Council | Unicameral |
Sub-national
Country | Region | Body | Type | Established | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | New South Wales | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1824 | Unicameral until 1856 |
Australia | South Australia | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1840 | Unicameral until 1857 |
Australia | Tasmania | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1825 | Unicameral until 1856 |
Australia | Victoria | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1851 | Unicameral until 1856 |
Australia | Western Australia | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1832 | Unicameral until 1890 |
India | Andhra Pradesh | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1958 | Abolished between 1985 and 2007 |
India | Bihar | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1912 | Unicameral until 1919 |
India | Jammu and Kashmir | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1957 | |
India | Karnataka | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1907 | |
India | Maharashtra | Legislative Council | Upper House | ||
India | Telangana | Legislative Council | Upper House | 2014 | |
India | Uttar Pradesh | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1935 | |
Venezuela | Zulia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1864 |
Defunct
National
Country | Body | Type | Established | Disestablished | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Antigua and Barbuda | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
Bahamas | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
Barbados | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
Bechuanaland Protectorate | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1961 | 1965 | |
Bermuda | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
British Columbia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1867 | 1871 | |
British Guiana | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1928 | 1961 | Established by an act of parliament; abolished between 1953 and 1954. |
British Honduras | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
British Virgin Islands | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 2007 | ||
Burma | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1897 | 1936 | |
Ceylon | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1833 | 1931 | Established under the prerogative |
Cyprus | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Dominica | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established by an act of parliament | ||
Falkland Islands | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1845 | 2009 | Established under the British Settlements Act, 1843 |
Fiji | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Gambia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the British Settlements Act, 1843 | ||
Gibraltar | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1950 | 1969 | |
Gold Coast | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the British Settlements Act, 1843 | ||
India | Imperial Legislative Council | Bicameral | 1861 | 1947 | Unicameral until 1920 |
Jamaica | Legislative Council | ||||
Kenya | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1907 | 1963 | Established under the British Settlements Act, 1843 |
Lower Canada | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1791 | 1841 | |
Malaya | Federal Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1948 | 1957 | |
Malta | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Mandatory Palestine | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1922 | 1923 | |
Mauritius | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Montserrat | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 2011 | Established under instructions to the governor | |
Newfoundland | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1833 | 1934 | |
New Zealand | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1841 | 1950 | Unicameral until 1853 |
Nigeria | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Northern Rhodesia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843 | ||
Nyasaland | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1907 | Established under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843 | |
Papua New Guinea | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1951 | 1963 | |
Portuguese Guinea | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1963 | 1972 | Became the Legislative Assembly |
Portuguese West Africa | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1922 | 1972 | Abolished between 1926 and 1955 |
Province of Canada | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1841 | 1867 | |
St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under instructions to the governor | ||
St Lucia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
St Vincent | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established by an act of parliament | ||
Seychelles | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the prerogative | ||
Sierra Leone | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the British Settlements Act, 1843 | ||
Solomon Islands | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1960 | 1970 | |
Southern Rhodesia | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1898 | 1923 | Established under the prerogative |
Straits Settlements | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1866 | Established by an act of parliament | |
Singapore | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1946 | 1953 | |
Trinidad and Tobago | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1925 | 1961 | Established under the prerogative |
Tanganyika | Legislative Council | Unicameral | Established under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843 | ||
Turks and Caicos Islands | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 2006 | ||
Uganda | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1920 | 1962 | Established under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1843 |
Upper Canada | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1791 | 1841 | |
Zaire | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1972 | 1990 |
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Region | Body | Type | Established | Disestablished | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | Queensland | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1860 | 1922 | |
Canada | Manitoba | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1870 | 1876 | |
Canada | New Brunswick | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1785 | 1891 | |
Canada | Nova Scotia | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1838 | 1928 | |
Canada | Prince Edward Island | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1773 | 1893 | |
Canada | Quebec | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1867 | 1968 | |
India | Bombay | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1861 | 1960 | Unicameral until 1935 |
India | Cochin | Legislative Council | Unicameral | 1925 | 1949 | |
India | Tamil Nadu | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1861 | 1986 | Unicameral until 1937 |
India | West Bengal | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1969 | ||
United States | Delaware | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1776 | 1792 | |
United States | Florida Territory | Legislative Council | Bicameral | |||
United States | New Jersey | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1776 | 1844 | |
United States | South Carolina | Legislative Council | Upper House | 1776 | 1778 |
Nonpartisan legislative support agency
In American English, the term "legislative council" has developed a radically different meaning since the 1930s. Today, it refers to a joint committee with members from both houses of the state legislature, which supervises a staff of attorneys, accountants, and researchers charged with providing strictly nonpartisan support services to the legislature or to particular committees.[2] The concept of the legislative council was first developed in Kansas and was implemented by the Kansas Legislature in 1933.[2] Eventually, a majority of U.S. states adopted legislative councils, but under a variety of names.[2] Kansas still uses a legislative council, although it was converted into the Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council in 1971. Today, legislative councils actually operating under that name exist in the states of Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. Several states prefer to use the term "commission" for the same thing, including New Jersey and Nevada.
A few states, like California, have a "legislative counsel," not "council," who is appointed by a vote of the entire legislature and is thus responsible to the body as a whole rather than a "council" within it.
See also
References
- ↑ Wright, Martin. Appendix 9 in "The Development of the Legislative Council 1606-1945", in the series "Studies in Colonial Legislatures" edited by Margery Perham of the Institute of Colonial Studies, Oxford, England (Faber & Faber, 1946)
- 1 2 3 Teaford, Jon C. (2002). The Rise of the States: Evolution of American State Government. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 153–157. ISBN 9780801868894. Retrieved August 25, 2014.