Amendment to the 1840 Union Act (1848)

Great Britain and United Canada

Repealed

Francophone opposition was so strong to the 1840 Union Act that in 1848 London decided to accept the use of French in the legislature. The Amendment repealed Section 41 of the Union Act and brought back de facto bilingualism.

Paragraphs 11 and 12 Victoriae, ch. LVI of the 1848 amendment repealed Section 41 of the 1840 Union Act that made English the sole official language of Parliament.

Whereas by an Act passed ... it is amongst other Things enacted, that ... all Writs, Proclamations, Instruments for summoning and calling together ... and all Writs and Public Instruments whatsoever relating to the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, or either of them, and all Returns to such Writs and Instruments, and all Journals, Entries and written or printed Proceedings of what Nature soever, of the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, and of each of them respectively, and all written or printed Proceedings and Reports of Committees of the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly respectively, shall be in the English Language only: Provided always, that the said Enactment should not be construed to prevent translated Copies of any such Documents being made, but no such Copy should be kept among the Records of the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly, or be deemed in any Case to have the Force of an original Record: And whereas it is expedient to alter the Law in this respect, in order that the Legislature of the Province of Canada, or the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly respectively, may have Power to make such Regulations herein as to them may seem advisable: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this Act so much of the said recited Act as is herein-before recited shall be repealed.

Amendment of 1848 to the Union Act of 1840

A.D. 1848.               11° & 12° VICTORIÆ              Ch.56

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Great Britain. The Public General Arts. 11-12 Victoria, 1847-48, ch.56.

ANNO UNDECIMO & DUODECIMO

VICTORIÆ REGINÆ.

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C A P LVI.

An Act to repeal so much of an Act of the Third and Fourth Years of Her present Majesty, to re-unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, as relates to the Use of the English Language in Instruments relating to the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.

[14th August 1848.]

Whereas by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament held in the Third and Fourth Years of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act to re-unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, it is amongst other Things enacted, that from and after the said Re-union of the said Two Provinces, all Writs, Proclamations, Instruments for summoning and calling together the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, and for proroguing and dissolving the same, and all Writs of Summons and Elections, and all Writs and Public Instruments whatsoever relating to the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, or either of them, and all Returns to such Writs and Instruments, and all Journals, Entries and written or printed Proceedings of what Nature soever, of the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, and of each of them respectively, and all written or printed Proceedings and Reports of Committees of the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly respectively, shall be in the English Language only: Provided always, that the said Enactment should not be construed to prevent translated Copies of any such Documents being made, but no such Copy should be kept among the Records of the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly, or be deemed in any Case to have the Force of an original Record: And whereas it is expedient to alter the Law in this respect, in order that the Legislature of the Province of Canada, or the said Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly respectively, may have Power to make such Regulations herein as to them may seem advisable: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this Act so much of the said recited Act as is herein-before recited shall be repealed.

II And be it enacted, That this Act, or any Part thereof, may be repealed, altered, or varied at any Time during the present Session of Parliament.

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LONDON : Printed by GEORGE E. EYRE and
WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen's most Excellent Majesty. 1848.