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In the administration of the government of the province the governor was given the assistance of a council. As originally constituted in 1763, the council was composed of the lieutenant-governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, of the chief justice of the province, of the surveyor-general of customs for the northern district, and of eight other persons nominated by the governor. Should the number of resident councillors fall below seven, the governor was authorized to appoint temporary members with the full power of councillors. The oath required on admission operated as an effective means of excluding Roman Catholic subjects from its membership.

The necessity of a change in the constitution of the council early became evident. In 1769 the commissioners for Trade, in a report on the state of the Province of Quebec, recommended that its membership should be increased to fifteen, which should include not more than five French Canadians. A reform in accord with this suggestion was made by the Quebec Act, when the membership was fixed at not less than seventeen or more than twenty-three, and the religious test was removed from the qualification of members.

The council was appointed by the governor subject to the approval of the crown, while members could be suspended by the governor with the consent of a majority of the council, or, if for reasons which could not be communicated to the council, by the sole authority of the governor.^[1] If a member of council remained absent from the country for a period exceeding six months without the consent of the governor, or for a period exceeding a year without the sanction of the crown, his seat was vacated.

The functions of the council were both legislative and executive. While originally no such distinction was made, there developed in time a difference between the council as a law-making and as an administrative body. Subsequent to the Quebec Act the legislative council met always at Quebec between January 1 and May 1. The Privy Council, as the council in its executive capacity came to be called, was assembled at whatever time or place seemed necessary. The governor-in-chief, or, in his absence, the lieutenant-governor, presided over the meetings of the Privy Council, while, with but few exceptions, the legislative council met under the presidency of the lieutenant-governor or the senior member of the council. A more important distinction, however, arose between the legislative council and the Privy Council. The quorum of the council, as established in 1763, was fixed at five, and the Quebec Act, after increasing the membership of the council, provided that ‘any five of the said Council shall constitute a Board of Council for transacting all Business, in which their Advice and consent may be requisite, Acts of Legislation only excepted.’^[2] This instruction was interpreted by Carleton as permitting him to select five members of the council as a Privy Council, and accordingly, on August 7, 1776, he constituted a Privy Council consisting of five particular members and ‘such others as the Lieutenant Governor should think proper to send for.’^[3] This committee examined the accounts for the expenditure of public money, reported on the more important matters of state, and in general performed the duties of the executive advisers to the governor. Carleton’s interpretation of his authority was manifestly contrary to the original intention of the instruction, which did nothing more than fix a quorum for the council acting as an executive body. The subject was brought to the attention of the secretary of state by Chief Justice Livius, and in 1779 a special instruction was sent to Governor Haldimand informing him that the article constituting the Board of Council ‘shall not be understood to delegate Authority to you Our Governor to select and appoint any such Persons by Name as you shall think fit to make such Quorum, terming the same a Privy Council, or to excuse you from summoning to Council all such thereunto belonging as are within a convenient distance.’^[4] This provision was embodied in the later instructions sent to Governor Carleton.

The authority of the council as a legislative body was circumscribed within very definite limits. The constitution of the province as established in 1763 had in contemplation the summoning of an elective assembly, which, with the governor and council, should make laws for the colony. In the meantime the jurisdiction of the governor and council was confined to the passing of such rules and regulations ‘as shall appear to be necessary for the Peace, Order and good Government of Our said Province, taking Care that nothing be passed or done, that shall any ways tend to affect the Life, Limb or Liberty of the Subject, or to the imposing any Duties or Taxes.’^[5] This restraint bore particularly on the penalty clauses inserted in various bills, with the result that several provincial ordinances were disallowed by the crown. The Quebec Act partially removed these restrictions, though jurisdiction was not extended to the imposing of any taxes or duties except such as were necessary for making roads, erecting and repairing public buildings, and for the purposes of local improvements.

The jurisdiction of the council acting as an advisory body to the governor was defined in the commission and instructions to General Murray in 1763. In general its consent was necessary in all acts touching the constitution of the courts, the erection of fortifications, the appropriation of money, the establishment of markets, the granting of lands and the suspension of its own members. The attitude of the governors to the council underwent a distinct change during this period. Carleton consulted his council only on the questions specified in his commission and instructions.^[6] The changes effected in the constitution of the council by the Quebec Act seemed to give it greater weight; while the frequent absence of the governor-in-chief from the colony placed upon it a much greater responsibility. The defence of the province from invasion, the settlement of the loyalists and the growth of the trade of the colony all contributed to increase the volume of business requiring the attention of the council, with the result that its place as an executive branch of government grew steadily in importance.

[1]	See the case of the dismissal of Chief Justice Livius, p. 430.

[2]	Instructions to Guy Carleton, 1775, Article 2.

[3]	See the Minutes of the Privy Council, August 7, 1776.

[4]	Additional Instruction to Governor Haldimand, March 29, 1779. See Constitutional Documents, 1759-91, Shortt and Doughty, 1907, p. 476.

[5]	Instructions to General Murray, 1763, Article ii.

[6]	See p. 431.