OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF CANADA FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE YEAR 1888 INCLUDING THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1867, AND A DIGEST BY JOHN GEORGE BOURINOT, LL.D., F.R.S. CAN., CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS of Canada. AUTHOR OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE IN CANADA, MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1888. Entered according to Act of Parliament in the year 1888, by DAWSON BROTHERS, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. GAZETTE PRINTING CO., MONTREAL. To HIS EXCELLENCY THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE, G. C. M. G. THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR IN TOKEN OF HIGH ESTEEM FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNOR WHO HAS WON GOLDEN OPINIONS DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF HIS HIGH OFFICE IN CANADA. PREFATORY NOTE. This treatise is in a large measure a revised republication of certain chapters of the author's large book on Parliamentary Practice and Procedure in Canada. Those parts of the work have been recently placed on the list of books required for the study of Political Science in the University of Toronto; and it has therefore been thought desirable to publish a separate volume, with such additions and alterations as will make the sketch of the Canadian Constitution, as it appeared originally, complete down to the present time. The author has much hope that the publication of this little work in a cheap and convenient form will be of some assistance to all those persons who wish to study the general character of the constitutional system of the Dominion, whose institutions are now attracting considerable attention in other countries. HOUSE OF COMMONS, 12th April, 1888. |