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

Sub-national

Country	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

• Council
• House of Assembly
• Legislative Assembly

References

1. 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)
2. 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.