User:Mr Serjeant Buzfuz/Second Schedule to the Constitution Act, 1867
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The Second Schedule to the Constitution Act, 1867 is a provision of the Constitution of Canada, relating to a guarantee of certain electoral districts with an English-speaking population in the province of Quebec, when Canada was established in 1867. The provision has since been repealed by the Quebec Legislature.
The Constitution Act, 1867 is the constitutional statute which established Canada. Originally named the British North America Act, 1867, the Act continues to be the foundational statute for the Constitution of Canada, although it has been amended many times since 1867. It is now recognised as part of the supreme law of Canada.
Constitution Act, 1867
editThe Constitution Act, 1867 was enacted as a statute of the British Parliament, under the name the British North America Act, 1867.[1] As the final stage in the process of Canadian Confederation, the British government enacted the statute at the request of the governments of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to join them into the federation of Canada.[2]
Originally a statute of the British Parliament, in 1982 the Act was recognised as part of the Constitution of Canada, which is the supreme law of Canada, and re-named the Constitution Act, 1867.[3] Since Patriation of the Constitution in 1982, the British Parliament does not have any power to amend the Constitution Act, 1867.[4]
Text of the Second Schedule
editThe Second Schedule read:
| “ | Electoral Districts of Quebec specially fixed
Counties of — Pontiac. |
” |
The Second Schedule provided the detailed listing of electoral districts referred to in Section 80 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which could not be altered without special majorities of the elected members from those districts.
Section 80 was implicitly repealed by the Quebec Legislature. The Second Schedule ceased to have any constitutional significance at that point.
References
edit- ^ British North America Act, 1867, 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3 (UK).
- ^ Donald Creighton, The Road to Confederation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1864; revised ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 424–430.
- ^ Constitution Act, 1982, s. 52, s. 53, and Schedule, Item 1.
- ^ Canada Act 1982, 1982, c. 11 (UK), s. 2.
- ^ Constitution Act, 1867, Second Schedule.