The Denominational Basis of Representation in the Newfoundland Assembly, 1919–1962

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science
• Main Author: Rothney, Gordon O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1962
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/139296; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0315489000003868

Newfoundland before 1934 had a Governor, a responsible Executive Council, and an appointed Legislative Council. The Governor “with the advice and consent” of the Executive Council, summoned and called together the General Assembly, and “the persons thereupon duly elected to be members of the said Assembly,” before their sitting, took the Oath of Allegiance. The Governor from time to time prorogued the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, and also from time to time dissolved the House of Assembly. Laws were made by the Governor “with the advice and consent of the said Legislative Council and Assembly.” From February 16, 1934, to March 31, 1949, Newfoundland was ruled by a Commission of Government. Upon the union with Canada in 1949, the constitution of the legislature as it existed immediately prior to February 16, 1934, continued as the constitution of the legislature of the province of Newfoundland, except in so far as it related to the Legislative Council. Laws are now “enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and the House of Assembly” only. Prior to 1928 the Assembly contained thirty-six members. In that year (by an act passed in 1925) the number was raised to forty, but in 1932 it was reduced to twenty-seven. In 1949 it rose to twenty-eight, and in 1956 (by an act passed in 1955) it once again reached thirty-six. Now, by an amendment adopted in 1962, the House of Assembly consists, from the dissolution of the General Assembly in October, of forty-two members.