Legislative Council - Definition and Overview

A Legislative Council in British constitutional thought is the second-to-top tier of a government led by a Governor-General, Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, inferior to an Executive Council and equal to or superior to a Legislative Assembly. Though the Legislative Council should in theory operate as a legislature of a governorate (not necessarily a colony) with either appointed or elected members or both, the separate development of governments in the British Empire and Commonwealth has seen the Councils evolve in to many different forms.

Where the Legislative Council functions purely as a legislature

• Legislative Council of Brunei (unelected, now dissolved)
• Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Legislative Council of Macau ( formerly a Portuguese governed territory )

Where the Legislative Council has assumed extra functions

Usually in this case the Legislative Council functioned as an Upper House or second chamber of a bicameral legislature operating under the Westminster System. The inferior chamber/Lower House is sometimes the Legislative Assembly.

• In Australia:
  • The New South Wales Legislative Council
  • The Queensland Legislative Council (abolished in 1922)
  • The South Australian Legislative Council
  • The Tasmanian Legislative Council
  • The Victorian Legislative Council
  • The Western Australian Legislative Council.
• In Bermuda, the Bermuda Legislative Council (renamed the Senate in 1980).
• In Canada: (all abolished)
  • The Legislative Council of Manitoba
  • The Legislative Council of Newfoundland
  • The Legislative Council of New Brunswick
  • The Legislative Council of Prince Edward Island
  • The Legislative Council of Nova Scotia
  • The Legislative Council of Quebec
  • The Legislative Council of Upper Canada
• In the Isle of Man, the Legislative Council of the Isle of Man.
• In New Zealand, the New Zealand Legislative Council (abolished in 1951).

See also

• House of Assembly